“That’s rough…”
A man with frothy bubbles in his mouth, his eyes shaking without mercy.
In a desperate moment where his life was hanging by a thread due to a battle with bats, he used an illusion spell utilizing light to drop to the ground.
How to see the most painful sight? That was a method worth researching hard.
It’s not a typical sly method. If I had known beforehand that he had such abilities, I would have added more conditions to the pact.
It’s highly likely that Joo Ye-seul didn’t mention this ability to any of her party members or anyone else.
So, I can’t really blame Hong Yong-seok and Yeom Tae-seok for drafting the pact.
“Grrh… Gurk…”
The man still had bubbles in his mouth, but he was gradually regaining stability.
After a while of wandering around, Joo Ye-seul finally noticed the man I had moved, lying alone on the ground, cocking her head as if she didn’t understand.
“Wow, that brat. She saved up a lot of strength.”
Naturally, since he was the best hunter aside from our party, it made sense that he could endure, but he looked significantly better than other hunters.
“Oh… it’s that chain.”
The chain of magic that I had placed on the man was beginning to absorb into her body, and with it, her body was healing.
That chain absorbed the magic scattered in the air from the man tormented by the illusions.
“Is it an ability that absorbs magic mixed with dark emotions? That’s quite a tricky skill for someone handling light.”
After seeing the transferred man, Joo Ye-seul became very cautious. Naturally. Because someone had noticed what she was doing, it must have sent chills down her spine.
“Just do your job, please. I’ll keep you alive until we leave.”
Still, I wanted to keep a closer eye on Joo Ye-seul, but seeing the hunters tightly holding me back after I had moved the man made it difficult.
The hunters closely followed me, worried that I would leave my position again. It was a fresh sight to see the symbol of strength, hunters, huddled together like goblins.
It had been 20 minutes since both potions and Irmana’s lake water could no longer recover our party members.
The hunters, gathered around me in a circle with their backs to each other, struggled with all their might to endure. After some time passed…
Flap-!
Ultimately, we defeated all those pesky little bats.
“Whoo…”
“……”
At this point, it should have been normal for cheers to erupt, but it was eerily quiet.
There was definitely relief in their eyes from surviving, but only the sounds of their nearly gasping breaths could be heard.
Having prepared plenty of brown bottles filled with Irmana’s lake water, I handed one to each of the people collapsed on the ground. Since it was something I had supplied only to my party members, everyone’s expressions were puzzled.
“Ugh… Heh… What is this…?”
“Is it a potion?”
“It has no color…”
When I didn’t react to their questions, the hunters lying on the ground turned their heads in unison towards Yeon-hee.
“… It’ll heal you a lot. Unlike potions, it’s a medicine that slowly heals internal injuries…”
Yeon-hee struggled to spit out a word, but her kind nature hadn’t left her, and she calmly explained.
“Oh… An amazing potion like this exists in the world…”
“Gulp- Hmm…?! Magic power?”
Those who already took the potion began writhing their bodies, letting out strange sounds.
It didn’t please me to see the muscular men displaying such behavior, even if the women were different. Just then, one man couldn’t hold back and shouted in ecstasy.
“Grr… Khaaa! Gan… deeeer!!”
“Oh no, where are you going, mister…”
When a wave of regret surged through me for giving it, Yeon-hee, who leaned on my shoulder, gave me a thumbs up and cheered me on.
I carefully wiped Yeon-hee’s face, which was covered with bat gore and blood, with a wet wipe.
“Heh… I like this…”
‘Is it the wiping that she likes?’
“Keep doing it… Okay, right there.”
Lifting her shirt that had blood stains slightly showing her bare skin, Yeon-hee looked up at me with a mischievous expression.
‘Oh, she’s trying to pull such tricks now.’
I gently rubbed her earlobe, which I had persistently asked about in the dawn.
“Mmm… Ha, don’t dooo that…”
She who had looked at me with seductive eyes instantly turned red and returned to her usual expression.
“……”
And I could feel the gaze of Noh Ha-yoon and Baek Ah-rin watching us from a distance.
Noh Ha-yoon and I briefly made eye contact, she blushed, placed her palm to her cheek, and shifted her gaze away shyly.
‘She looks cute even when she’s like that…’
Thinking of Noh Ha-yoon blushing and turning away, I realized that I needed to keep a distance from her for many reasons.
If Yeon-hee were to get influenced… That would be troublesome.
…Or maybe not? Actually, Yeon-hee may have already crossed the line of what’s normal…
While I was lost in a meaningless argument with myself, the wall blocking the opposite side of the passage we had entered slowly began to split apart, revealing an area we had not seen before.
Creeeak—
“Whoaaa! Finally!”
One hunter lying sideways in a shrimp position cheered and reacted violently. No wonder, because usually when a door like that opens in a dungeon, it means the business here is done.
– The door leading to the maze will shut in three hours.
“Gah…! Let’s get out of here, right now!”
The message popping up in everyone’s heads stated that the enormous stone wall that had just opened would close in three hours.
With that message, several hunters began to jump towards the passage, but soon the other hunters restrained them.
Hong Yong-seok looked at the hunters trying to jump out and said,
“Stay calm. In other words, it means it won’t close before three hours have passed.”
Hunters, whose judgement had blurred from their limits, nodded slightly at Hong Yong-seok’s explanation.
“We have enough time to rest for about two and a half hours.”
Right. We had gained safe rest time until the door closed.
A break guaranteed by the system. We should enjoy this.
Yeon-hee disbanded all the summoned creatures except for me and plopped down on the cushion I had prepared.
Sitting next to her, I smiled at the message floating in my mind.
– Defeat 10,000 enemies with a property skill. (10,000/10,000)
– Defeat 10,000 enemies with a great sword in one hit. (9,781/10,000)
– Defeat 10,000 enemies using daggers in a stealth state. (3,660/10,000)
Finally, I had satisfied one of the conditions for the job change quest.
The great sword one would be done soon, and now, all that was left was the dagger.
If I could change the great sword held in my left hand to a dagger form, I could probably take them out faster with both hands.
‘At this rate, I’ll have plenty to spare.’
Currently, my level was 53.
I would have to hit level 60 to change jobs, so there’s no need to rush since the dagger quest was progressing slowly.
However, I needed to pay more attention to earning experience points now.
‘The problem is that this place is about to close…’
Typically, when a high-tier dungeon closes, the monsters below will become stronger and replace it.
‘So that’s why the Orc dungeon became so difficult?’
Thinking back, everything was linked together.
One worry was whether the monsters here would give the same amount of experience when the Orc dungeon escalated.
‘Hmm… I’m not so sure.’
If nothing works out, it might be faster to take out one of those villains for a quick level-up.
‘Cha Jin-hyuk… I need to gather some information soon.’
A villain who hunts villains, known as the mad judge, Cha Jin-hyuk. If I find it hard to earn experience points, he could be my next target.
While I was tidying up Yeon-hee’s messy hair, another message popped up.
– Information accumulation for [Mimicry] is rapidly increasing.
‘Huh?’
I hastily looked over the list of possible mimicries.
〔Information gathering in progress…〕
1. Ice Mage Noh Ha-yoon
2. Knight Baek Ah-rin
3. Sorceress Bae Joo-ah
4. Bard of Salvation Ham Eun-young
5. Lizardman 1
For now, the information gathering for Noh Ha-yoon and Baek Ah-rin had greatly risen. Noh Ha-yoon had exceeded 70%.
‘Ham Eun-young also climbed to 4th…?’
Not just an ordinary bard, but she had a designated title. I glanced over at Ham Eun-young.
– Hehe… Right…? I think I’m pretty amazing…
‘……’
Ham Eun-young, mumbling to herself while gazing into a handheld mirror.
As I carefully observed the magic surrounding her body, it was clear that there were changes compared to before entering the cave.
‘Come to think of it… it’s faintly visible.’
I turned to check the exhausted people. Their magic was in disarray earlier, but now they were recovering rapidly. Irmana’s lake water alone wouldn’t produce such effects.
Seeing the expressions of the hunters, they also seemed puzzled as to why this was happening. A gentle magical aura was barely visible to my eyes.
It appeared that Ham Eun-young had either unlocked a new ability or significantly enhanced her existing ones.
‘An ability that makes others unaware of the effects… That’s fast growth. It’s dangerous…?’
Labeling her healing abilities as dangerous is because a bard’s growth isn’t always limited to support.
Hunters with abilities to impose conditions that prevent messages from appearing are extremely dangerous and can be included in special units’ management.
For example, someone like Jeong Hyo-chan from the Hunter Management Bureau, who could differentiate between truth and lies.
‘……’
The huge figure with two horns emerging from the handheld mirror was a demon related to the early awakened ones, Ham Eun-young.
‘It’s better to keep her close…’
I had to make sure I could manage her somehow. It might be good to gather a bit more information…
‘But she’s not talking, so I need to create a connection somehow.’
Thinking back, Ham Eun-young had been hovering around Noh Ha-yoon since we entered this dungeon, and normally Noh Ha-yoon wouldn’t likely miss it, but considering the distance they maintained, there hadn’t been any progress.
‘It seems she wants to get closer…’
If I helped them bond, wouldn’t the information gathering increase significantly?
While I pondered how to facilitate that, I reached the conclusion that I didn’t need to be so deeply concerned about all this. If I just take action, something will happen.
Suddenly—
“Hmm? Where are you going, Il-wol— Ugh—!”
I gently touched Yeon-hee’s ear and approached Ham Eun-young.
“… Oh?”
‘Why does she keep struggling like this…?’
She occasionally speaks fluently but always slips back to this stuttered speech most of the time. There might be a backstory there.
I gestured Ham Eun-young to follow me.
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