After finishing the call, Yeon-hee took out the map app again and lay down beside me.
“How about here? It’s right at the center of the C and B-level dungeons.”
Nodding…
It would be best if the house was close to the office. After all, dungeons were our workplace, so I had to think about distance first.
Moreover, although the rent in the commercial area close to the dungeons is expensive, the residential areas have lower prices, which was another reason.
No one wants to live near a dungeon where monsters can burst out at any moment.
Fortunately, Awakened Ones have less to worry about, so naturally, the concentration of hunters increases as you get closer to the dungeon.
This neighborhood was one of those places, and the abundance of villains likely exists because many hunters live here… Wait, if we move, won’t it get worse?
‘No… I need to drop the assumption that many bad people are among the hunters…’
Brrr—
Anyway, while we were looking at the candidate areas Yeon-hee had in mind on street view, a text message came through.
It was Noh Ha-yoon. Yeon-hee didn’t open the message right away, instead taking a moment before reading it.
“Um… The person coming with us is… quite a bit older?”
Bae Joo-ah had asked Noh Ha-yoon to bring one more person, and this was information about that extra person.
‘Where…’
The photo displayed on the phone looked like an uncle who was definitely over forty.
‘Definitely a helper. Considering it’s the first attempt, it shouldn’t be too bad.’
Thinking of Noh Ha-yoon, who could instantly incapacitate multiple orcs with area attacks, I wondered if we really needed a helper on the first basement floor? But there must be some reason for it.
It was already strange that the person who had met us for the first time was still stuck at D-rank after entering Nargul’s dungeon. Especially considering her talent, it was even weirder. What was she doing here, holding out with such a helper?
‘I don’t recognize that face. If they’re a main hunter for the Vision Guild, I wouldn’t have seen them.’
They appeared to be close-combat oriented, but since there were many mages pretending to be physical fighters, I wouldn’t know for sure until I saw them fight.
But as expected, Ha-yoon had sent the basic information as well.
“They’re a paladin type using swordsmanship, generally balanced out. They’re versatile and wouldn’t disappoint in any setting, so they should be helpful for the dungeon exploration…”
There was no contradiction between their looks and their role. A close combat warrior who would tank for Noh Ha-yoon to unleash her power. We didn’t particularly need more close combat support, but it didn’t matter much.
Besides, if they were a paladin type, they would have top-tier resistance against undead, which would make things much easier… To be honest, I wasn’t expecting this much, and it was starting to feel a bit frustrating.
‘Are they coddling the youngest daughter too much while expecting her to grow?’
While I was grumbling internally, Yeon-hee took a light breath and said, “Sigh… It’s only been a little while, but so much has happened… Ha-yoon, it feels like it’s been ages since I last saw you.”
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
“Ah… Uh! Then I guess I’ll go get some sleep.”
As soon as it hit midnight, Yeon-hee abruptly stood up as if she remembered an urgent appointment. Naturally, she was heading to her room.
After glancing back once, Yeon-hee sent a silent look, but today she wasn’t going to step into her room.
There was a strategy behind wanting to change things up little by little every day so she couldn’t predict it.
More importantly, I wanted to sort out my thoughts about the ‘Evil-Infused Ancient Crystal’ that was sleeping in my inventory. It was surely a valuable item, just like any regular crystal.
‘Hmm… Is this the only one?’
That thought suddenly crossed my mind. This neighborhood wasn’t far from the area with the densest concentration of dungeons, which made it a common area for cheap studio apartments where typically, people without much money lived.
What could be gained by placing such an item here? Since it was set up where people don’t go, it wouldn’t be for absorbing life forces.
In the end, it seemed it was meant to store the mana floating in the air for some purpose.
‘Having just this one wouldn’t allow for anything grand…’
Based on my assumptions mixed with imagination, even if the crystal was connected to other storage spaces, the tasks that could be accomplished would be limited.
At most, it might be sufficient for a blast powerful enough to take out a church. Of course, while that would be significant, it wouldn’t turn the world upside down like a gas explosion.
‘Hmmm… It doesn’t necessarily have to be used for blowing things up, right?’
Crystals serving as power plants in everyday life could be used in countless other ways.
First, like how I created the Yeon-hee orb before, it could be used for equipment crafting. Was a villain gathering energy to strengthen their weapon? Quite a plausible idea.
With just ten, it would be possible to craft equipment of quite significant quality.
‘Should I look around a bit…?’
There was really no downside to doing so. Staying cooped up at home all the time wasn’t ideal. Would a quick patrol for about thirty minutes be okay?
However, since this neighborhood was already within my area, there was nothing more to inspect here, so I had to venture further out, and I needed something for that.
Knock, knock—
– Kheek…!
As I knocked on the door with Ran, who was sprawled on the floor, Yeon-hee was hiding in the corner of her room, staring at me as I came in.
Wasn’t it about time to stop responding this way? Did she have a lingering rejection of unpredictable situations…?
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
“Huh?”
The spirit Ran, which I placed on my hand, moved towards her to convey my intention, and Yeon-hee scratched her head in slight embarrassment before nodding.
It was still cold. It was deep in the night, past midnight. Yeon-hee came out into the living room wearing a thick long padding.
‘Even covered up, she looks cute…’
“Hehe… Where are we going?”
Yeon-hee’s eyes sparkled as she asked, beaming with joy.
I gently ruffled her hair, then concentrated all my focus on the thorns densely embedded in my body.
‘Huh…!’
Crunch, crunch—
Then, the thorns that were sprawled messily over my body began to gather around my heels. While it was still difficult to hide them completely, I could at least consolidate them in one spot.
“Wow— So cool! But are you going to fight with that?”
“Clap, Clap!”
Even for me, using this to fight would be a bit of a stretch. I was only focused on gathering them, not even sure where they were attached.
After managing the thorns, I opened my arms towards Yeon-hee. She hesitated at first but gradually approached and leaned against my chest.
I tightly embraced her with my outstretched arms, resting her arms on my shoulder.
Faced with my horrifying face just inches away, she rather sparkled her eyes and started to fondle my face.
Holding her like that, I flew straight through the window.
“Yikes!”
This was my first time flying while holding Yeon-hee.
It was a shame that the view wasn’t great today, as the sky was mostly covered with clouds.
Next time, I plan to wait for the right moment and take her outside to float together under a clear sky. It would be an experience nobody else could provide. Heh…
Whoosh— sssssssss—
“Ugh…! C-Could we slow down a bit…?”
Ah, even though I had tried to control my speed, it seemed it was still too fast for Yeon-hee.
I reduced my flight speed as much as possible and gradually increased the distance eastward. There was no particular reason to head east. It was just a feeling, you know.
“Yay— This is so exciting—! Ha ha ha—!”
At first, she was too scared to even open her eyes, but after a few minutes, she nestled in my arms, reveling in the altered scenery.
Afraid of potentially dropping her, I held her quite firmly, but I began to worry if her ample chest was too squeezed against me.
However, she didn’t seem bothered as she twisted her head side to side, taking in the view.
Meanwhile, I kept looking at Yeon-hee while maintaining my focus on the sensation waves as I continued my search over the old buildings.
About ten minutes later, when I had flown about a kilometer away from home, I suddenly felt a familiar sense of unease. It felt eerily familiar.
‘Huh…? What’s that doing here?’
Whether it was a construction project halted midway or not, there was something familiar on the first basement floor of a building, which had only reached up to the fifth floor structure.
‘Hm… Damn it, those guys…’
Down below, there were two ‘Teeth’ monsters that had killed me during the Guchangro Dungeon Break. They were just standing there, with the ‘Evil-Infused Ancient Crystal’ sitting in the center, almost frozen in time.
There was now only about a hundred meters separating us. I landed on the rooftop of a nearby building, which overlooked the structure housing those monsters, and quickly wrapped the cloak around Yeon-hee and me.
A gentle aura of magic and sensory energy spread out from the cloak.
“Ah… So warm…”
Yeon-hee snuggled closer to me, warmed by the slightly heated energy.
Since we had landed on solid ground, it didn’t feel necessary for us to stay too close together, but Yeon-hee didn’t seem to want to pull away from me. If she felt like this, couldn’t she have greeted me more warmly when I entered her room?
(Ran. There are powerful monsters under the ground. Two in number. One of them is the one that devoured me during the Guchangro Dungeon Break.)
(Oh no, surely she isn’t thinking about entering with you?)
Before Ran conveyed my message to Yeon-hee, she first expressed her concerns about safety. Naturally, I wanted to go in alone, but there was no way Yeon-hee would let that happen.
“What?! That absurd monster is down there, and there are two of them?!”
Yes. Two indeed. The ones I only managed to defeat after being swallowed and detonating myself.
Of course, my combat power now was uncomparably different from back then, but the fighting power of the two monsters down there was still at the upper echelon of C-rank.
Thinking simply, it could be compared to two Tasmanians who had transformed into werewolves. There wasn’t much of a solution, was there?
Even if I sneaked up with Stealth and cast Stagnation followed by Bombs and Fireballs, they were essentially Chimeras made of powerful monsters, which made them incredibly resilient. It would likely come down to a 2:1 fight.
‘… If I combine forces with the summoned creatures…’
The problem was that the other summoned creatures tended to get a bit flustered if they were out of Yeon-hee’s sight. So it would be advantageous for her to be present for them to exert their strength. But that was…
‘Too dangerous. There should be no chance of Yeon-hee getting hurt…’
Yet, Yeon-hee was already rolling up her sleeves and getting ready for battle. Seeing the determination in her eyes, it seemed I would have no choice but to fight alongside her.
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