Shin Young-ah checked the villagers’ conditions once more and showed a faint smile.
“Well, do you feel a sense of fulfillment in saving people?”
“With this, I think the follow-up team should be enough to handle it. Shall we move?”
“Sure… Next is this way.”
Shin Young-ah chose a large route that turned toward the 3 o’clock direction instead of the 1 o’clock direction where her main body was.
After about 20 minutes of moving, we approached the next target.
“Seriously… the deeper we go, the magic recovery rate is gradually decreasing.”
“It will keep decreasing. Are you considering giving up?”
“What are you talking about? I’m going to achieve results no matter what.”
Joo-ah was convinced that this hunt would yield a big profit.
As a money ghost, she would rather break her body than give up until the very end.
– Mergi…
The next target was not much different from the Creeper Guard we had seen before. In fact, the aura it emitted was distinctly weaker than the first one we encountered.
Just before stepping into its territory, Shin Young-ah suddenly halted.
She gestured for us to sit down.
“??”
We all sat around in a circle with question marks floating over our heads.
Shin Young-ah pulled out a notebook from her space and showed us the words she had scribbled on the last page.
[“Entities following us. Do you know them?”]
It was so barely legible that it was hard to read, but the meaning was clear.
‘Impressive. And they’re not even a guide.’
Soon, Yeon-hee took the pen and wrote back in her cute, round handwriting.
[“It seems like you’re quite worried about the Vision Guild and ‘reverse flow.'”]
Seeing that, Shin Young-ah tilted her head and looked around.
She had a slightly unsettled expression…
‘No way, did she figure out the existence of the being hiding and chasing Yeon-hee? That means it has as sharp a sense as mine?’
That would indeed be surprising, but Shin Young-ah stood up as if done confirming the two and shook off the dust from her clothes.
“I understand the situation, but allowing their intervention is only when we encounter an Elite Soldier-level threat. If you have any contact means, please relay this message.”
“Yes.”
Shin Young-ah had become slightly annoyed after realizing their presence late.
But she quickly hid her expression and started focusing on what needed to be done.
“This time, Noh Ha-yoon. You handle it alone.”
“Fufufuh… finally.”
While it was weaker than the first monster, the Creeper Guard still boasted upper B-level combat power.
However, Noh Ha-yoon was instead raising her fighting spirit against an extremely strong opponent.
“I’m going to win this match and have Hwa-ryeon make that girl my slave.”
“Scary… Noh Ha-yoon is dreaming of some weird harem!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?! I’m going in!”
Swishhhhh──
“What the…?!”
The Creeper Guard showed significant shock at the sudden blizzard swirling around it.
Even though it had a human shape, it was ultimately a plant-based monster.
Noh Ha-yoon’s freezing ability would be fatal against them.
Distracted by the blizzard, the Creeper Guard was completely caught off guard as Noh Ha-yoon moved behind it and manifested a massive ice spear.
Whoosh─!
“Ughhhh!!”
The ice spear pierced through a part of its thick shell, dealing considerable damage.
With just a single attack, the Creeper Guard was dislodged from its nest connected to the entire village.
“Kiieeek!!”
With significant portions of its upper body frozen, the creature seemed furious, pulling up thick roots from the ground.
“Haha! Who would be scared of those tree roots?!”
However, Noh Ha-yoon concealed herself in the blizzard, and the Creeper Guard’s roots just kept hitting her clone.
And as the number of clones increased, the resonance they caused began to swell in intensity.
[“Icicle Symphony”]
Now laid on the ground with its head wrapped in misery, the Creeper Guard flailed its roots wildly, trying to somehow break free from the current predicament.
‘The compatibility is too good.’
At the thought of hunting and betting against Hwa-ryeon, I had initially worried, but now I could see enough firepower to be confident.
“This is nice… very nice… is this really the bloodline of a ‘witch’?”
Finally, praise escaped from Shin Young-ah’s lips.
Her speed of scribbling in the notebook decreased significantly.
‘So she was just writing down the shortcomings.’
But despite scoring quite a few points in the beginning, the outcome wasn’t coming easily.
The Creeper Guard’s defense and health surpassed the previously transmitted information by a significant margin.
“Die! Die! Please die!”
Thanks to that, Noh Ha-yoon was pushing herself a bit too hard.
Her vision skill, [“Icicle Symphony”], was a finishing move suitable for short-term battles.
Even after five minutes had passed, the fact she was maintaining it was understandable given the blood flowing from her nose.
“Don’t overdo it. Ha-yoon!”
“I don’t care, damn it! Die! Do you really think Hwa-ryeon can lose to that girl?!”
Boom─
Moments later, the results of her obsessive attacks finally bore fruit.
The Creeper Guard was entirely frozen solid.
Noh Ha-yoon sprinted in and dealt a smashing blow with the ice spear.
Crashhhhh──!
Incredibly, Noh Ha-yoon had single-handedly taken down the Creeper Guard.
“Haha! Got it! We did it!”
‘Unbelievable… she really caught it?’
Considering the great advantage of compatibility, using a vision that could only be used a few times a day, and the various equipment and artifacts supported by her clan, plus the help of Shin Young-ah’s skills, it was indeed a commendable achievement.
“Excellent…”
“Ehem-”
With pride, Noh Ha-yoon presented the Creeper Guard’s mana stone to us.
“Oh… for ugly creatures, the color of the mana stone is really beautiful.”
“Looks valuable, right?”
“No, Ha-yoon, hurry up and drink this first.”
“Huh? Ugh… why am I suddenly so dizzy?”
“Of course, it’s because you’re bleeding so much, you fool.”
Blood was gushing from the wound on Ha-yoon’s face like a fountain.
In fact, she was in a worse condition than Ah-rin, who was struggling with the side effects of her beast transformation.
“Hehe… wait for me, fire girl.”
Laying on the ground with her head supported on Ham Eun-young’s knees, Noh Ha-yoon still looked happy.
Seeing her like that, Eun-young shook her head and gently brushed her hair aside.
‘Now she’s not even hiding it.’
“Alright… let’s stop detouring and go further inside.”
As we got closer to the main body, we’d encounter stronger creatures, and the intervals between them would become shorter.
“Next is our turn. Il-wol.”
Since everyone had gone through a battle once, it was finally our turn.
“Beep!”
After using the ‘Gori’ squad to feed Irmana’s water to the villagers, we set out again.
Since four people were already in bad condition after two fights, I expected Shin Young-ah would naturally slow down the pace.
But she swiftly moved in quicker instead.
“Hey- could you slow down a bit?”
“If you can’t keep up, you can just go down below. Like a defeated dog…”
“No, teacher. That’s too harsh to say to your disciple-”
“Shut up. We have a new enemy.”
“Che…”
While Ha-yoon grumbled, we spotted the third target.
However, this time, the situation was slightly different from before.
“There are two of them? They say they’re individualists protecting their territory?”
“That was based on the report compiled from materials taken from the North Korean side and intelligence gathered from our small forces. Since it’s a month-old report… it’s not surprising if there are other variables that have appeared since.”
Of course, it wasn’t utterly absurd information.
The two were not closely grouped and were located at opposite ends of the village.
However, since it was a distance of less than 200 meters, they could rush over in a single step to assist each other.
“This is nice… an interesting setup.”
“Shall we attack both at once?”
“No… let’s attack just one and see how the other reacts. It’s a good opportunity to understand their behavior. Yeon-hee Hunter, show us your abilities.”
“Yes yes!”
Finally, it was our turn.
But as Shin Young-ah walked ahead, she grabbed my arm and gently shook her head.
“You can’t participate.”
“Huh…?!”
“Just stay here quietly. If you participate, it dilutes the significance.”
‘So what am I supposed to do then?’
It seemed she thought my participation would disrupt the balance… I guess I needed to modify my plan to stick together until today.
“Ugh… Il-wol, I’ll try it alone first!”
Yeon-hee called forth the Alpha Trio and charged ahead, summoning the Sword Dragon and mounting it.
Flap─
As soon as she took to the sky, she withdrew a bow from her space.
While skillfully nocking an arrow in mid-air, she stopped for a moment and pulled the string back at just the right timing.
Pew──
Her arrow struck precisely at the Creeper Guard’s head, aiming for the moment when the Alpha Trio charged in unison.
“What the…?!”
‘Oooh… indeed, [Danti’s Blessing]. The penetration correction is ridiculous.’
Yeon-hee’s attack broke through the Creeper Guard’s shell and landed an effective hit.
Swishhhhh- Boom!
And the ensuing fierce battle between the three and the Creeper Guard.
“King’s Ear!”
The five Dire Wolves joined in, suppressing the roots’ attack from the ground with lightning strikes.
Wooshhhhh—
A whirlwind of chaos from ‘Black Bird’ followed, bringing in two of the ‘Nefies’ who tore into the Creeper Guard’s neck.
The sudden barrage left the Creeper Guard unable to regain its composure.
Boom─!
Yeon-hee’s arrow aimed again at its head.
The timing chosen to exploit the opening was excellent.
Thanks to Yeon-hee’s suppression, the Creeper Guard couldn’t retaliate even once, surrounded by a dozen summoned creatures and beaten down.
‘Is that thing not coming?’
Still, the other Creeper Guard on the opposite side remained completely still.
In fact, its mouth had turned up into a grin, suggesting that instead of seeing the other Creeper Guard as kin, it considered it a rival.
‘The individualistic tendency isn’t incorrect information. Seriously, can you still smirk even after seeing our strength? How foolish.’
Still, I kept my guard up, observing it closely.
After a few minutes, the summoned creatures that had turned the Creeper Guard into mush finally dashed toward the one across.
Swirrrrrr──!
“Kiieeek!!”
The Creeper Guard displayed significantly faster judgment and combat proficiency than the previous one.
Bam─!!
Its root attack made a wave, rapidly breaking apart the formation of the summoned creatures.
“Hmph! I can just resummon them again!”
As it resummoned the heavily damaged creatures and began firing arrows rapidly, Yeon-hee stayed relentless.
While the Trio kept the pinned down creature in place, undermining its defense, the Sword Dragon, waiting for an opportunity in the sky, released its breath, causing the second one to vanish in an instant.
‘Well, I guess I don’t need to step in here.’
Clearly, she had ascended to a higher level, surpassing the 80 level milestone.
Her previously passive archer position had now actively shone, showing a significant change.
‘I thought she might enjoy being protected by the castle for a while, but it seems that’s not the case. She just needed time to adapt to handling the Alpha Trio.’
Clap, clap, clap—
Suddenly, Shin Young-ah burst into applause.
“Indeed… it’s monstrous… calling her a genius is an understatement… what I said about putting her in the first team wasn’t just nonsense after all.”
Now sitting tightly next to me, Shin Young-ah kept muttering while diligently taking notes about Yeon-hee’s abilities.
“Support class is also excellent… the information that they rely on summoned creatures needs to be discarded. Was it [Danti’s Blessing]? It seems to have better penetration than most archer classes. It can break through a shell in one shot. Hmm… I don’t really have any advice… do I, Skeleton?”
“Clap, clap, clap…”
“Hehe…”
I really had no advice to offer.
It felt very similar to the emotions I was experiencing.
The harmony of offense and defense was nearly perfect.
With summoned creatures possessing provocation and confusion, support was possible too.
Though the only downside was a slight deficiency in ranged attack capabilities, due to Yeon-hee having steadily grown during the time I wasn’t looking, it was evident.
‘In the end, do I have to go off on my own again?’
I conveyed my thoughts to Yeon-hee, who was running over to show me the mana stone, her beaming expression beaming.
Now that we’ve come this far, I’d be hard-pressed to find a reason to stick around with the others.
The only concern was the mysterious [stealth] user, but given they hadn’t shown a reaction so far and were just observing, I figured it wasn’t something to worry about.
Yeon-hee displayed a momentarily sorrowful expression, but understanding she couldn’t go far anyway, she finally quelled her feelings with a promise to come running whenever I called her.
“Um… Teacher.”
She had started calling Shin Young-ah “teacher” at some point.
“What is it?”
“I’ll put Il-wol aside for a moment. We won’t be together for a while anyway.”
“That’s a really good idea. That friend is… too much of an outlier. The gap between you guys is just too big to do this together.”
“Aw… is it really that much?”
“Yes. I can tell you know, yet you’re still asking.”
“…………”
‘So she’s drawing a hard line here. Saying not to wander together.’
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