The Skeleton Assassin’s rising stats were 10 points higher than those of the Skeleton Fire Sorcerer or the Skeleton Bomb Master.
“That’s good, but deviating completely from the path towards the Destruction Bomb Sorcerer and the Great Sorcerer dreaming of immortality… Choosing this would mean a total breakup with magic… That’s a bit… disappointing.”
Of course, fighting in stealth was the method I excelled at the most and was the best fit for me. Even in my previous life, I spent the latter part living almost entirely in stealth.
“Still, after working so hard to level up my bomb skills, throwing them away feels bad…”
However, the explanation about lifting the restrictions on stealth sparked great curiosity.
“Were there constraints? Is that why I didn’t level up even once?”
Solving one of the lifelong mysteries, I nodded in satisfaction but was left with another unanswered question.
What would happen if the limitations on stealth were lifted? I could speculate a few things.
“First off, the duration would increase, and other stats might improve while casting stealth. Ideally, it would grow in a direction where no one could detect me.”
The scene of the red-haired elf easily dispelling my abilities flashed back in my mind. My current state of stealth was merely at that level.
To beings like elves, who were super strong, I would be clearly visible, and even stepping up to D-class would bring me face to face with sorcerers who could use Detect.
Of course, stealth is an ability that is conceptually different from magic, so detecting it isn’t easy.
At this moment, the two sorcerers next to me had no capability to sense my stealth.
“Is it impossible to just level up my stealth ability… I don’t want to miss out on the joy of sneaking up from behind and stabbing!”
When I first heard the term Shadow Lord, the blue-eyed organization’s shadow cloak came to mind. If I were to walk this path, I might gain abilities that felt akin to emerging thorns from the cloak.
Or maybe, moving through the shadows of enemies to attack from behind, I might gain a cool ability.
Furthermore, the name of the new skill I would acquire was Blink. If the explanation was correct, that skill names manifest as simple messages easily recognized by Awakened Ones, [Blink] would obviously refer to that ability.
“If combined with stealth, I’d really be flying around.”
The more I thought about it, the more I inclined toward this option.
“If I had to choose one of the three… um… yeah, that one.”
“Can you sense those?” Il-wol asked.
“Huh?”
Snapped back to reality by Yeon-hee’s question, I quickly shook my head and focused back on the waves.
“Feels like I’ve been here for a while? I can’t detect them.”
I signaled to Yeon-hee.
“It seems we’ve temporarily shaken off the pursuit.”
“Okay, let’s take a short break. Hah-”
Guitar 2, who had been carrying the injured Sang-cheol, finally requested a break.
“Let’s just catch our breath for a bit.”
As Yeon-hee sat down first, the others collapsed onto the ground.
We had been running madly for almost ten minutes. It was about time we caught our breath.
“How’s Sang-cheol?”
“Not dead yet, but he’s seriously hurt. If we stay like this… I don’t know why, but it’ll only get riskier with time. He’s been out for a few minutes now. We need to treat him properly ASAP…”
“Ugh… all we have are low-rank potions, so I don’t think it’ll help much.”
“Can you at least give me that? You can bill it to the guild! I will let them know.”
Helen and Jin-kyeong handed over all their potions. Though those low-quality potions wouldn’t work on such injuries, it might slow the deterioration a bit.
“Hmm…”
Yeon-hee and I exchanged glances. We were aware that the water from our artifact, the Ancient Jug, had healing properties, as confirmed a few days ago. Though it didn’t have a huge effect, it would definitely help.
Seeing Yeon-hee looking at me with pitiful eyes, I reluctantly stepped out of my stealth state for a moment.
Boom-!
Opening the cap of the empty potion bottle I had, I filled the jug with water from this world.
“Since I’m at it, let’s make a few more.”
After filling the jug, I returned to my spot and poured the water over the injured Sang-cheol.
“What are you doing!!”
Guitar 2, who was nursing him from the side, shouted in shock, and Yeon-hee quickly explained the situation.
“One of my summoned creatures can produce a liquid with healing effects. So no worries.”
“Is that for real? I’ve never heard of something like that… Well, after all, the summoner class hasn’t existed before…”
“Just wait, don’t be rude to someone who’s showing goodwill.”
Noh Ha-yoon frowned and scolded Guitar 2.
“Sorry…”
“It’s okay. I would have probably reacted the same way.”
After pouring all the water, a moment later, Sang-cheol, who had seemingly lost consciousness, awoke.
“Sang-cheol!!”
“Huh? Ah… Hyung-jik? Where… am I?”
“How’s your body? How do you feel?”
“Ugh… it hurts, I think I might die…! Wait, what’s this? The blessed lake water from Irmana…?”
“How about it? Is there any effect?”
“It says it’s healing internal injuries… what the heck is this?”
At that, Yeon-hee covered her mouth with her hand, and I couldn’t help but clench my fist.
The physical recovery effect of the lake water wasn’t instantaneous like when replenishing magic power but showed an ability to heal injured bodies very slowly.
It was hard to conclude from just seeing one person’s results, but unlike ordinary potions that primarily healed external injuries, it seemed to have a greater effect on internal damage.
“When I tested it on the Lizardman, the recovery was incredibly slow, so I didn’t expect much… Irmana, what are you?”
I could feel my affinity for Irmana steadily rising. Since I had been praying every day, it was perhaps only natural…
In any case, we quickly recovered our stamina in a very short time and discussed our plans. Yeon-hee briefly came over to share a few changes.
At that point, a group of around thirty hunters approached us. They weren’t coming directly for us; it seemed they were just passing by.
“Hmm… are they the original entrants? Can there be people who still haven’t made it this far?”
I was surprised that there were people retreating slower than us while dealing with the orcs.
Soon the group revealed themselves, and upon seeing them, both the injured Sang-cheol and Guitar 2’s shoulders twitched.
Then, Guitar 2, named Hyung-jik, seemed to bounce toward them, exchanged brief words, and soon returned to us.
“Should we go with them directly to the exit, Ha-yoon?”
“What?”
Yeon-hee and Noh Ha-yoon reacted immediately, explaining how heading towards the exit now was extremely dangerous.
However, Hyung-jik and Sang-cheol seemed to believe that it was better to head towards the exit than to face those hunters alone.
Of course, they might have thought that joining the thirty-person group would increase their survival odds compared to remaining with us.
“Everyone will gather at the exit, so having a large group will likely confuse the targeting of the orcs.”
But the issue was the possibility of getting caught before even reaching the exit.
We had already experienced that their tracking skills were not at all inferior to those of hunters, and they were incredibly fast.
“Ha-yoon, this is a life or death situation. Why should we sacrifice ourselves for others? We could hold out at the exit, and if it gets dangerous, we can flee beyond the gate… besides, it’s better than fighting those monsters that throw massive boulders with perfect precision…”
The thirty-person group swiftly moved towards the exit, and Hyung-jik urgently pushed again for us to go with them.
“I told you—do you think we could make it with those injured? With this pace, wouldn’t it take a minimum of an hour and a half? That’s absolutely impossible.”
And I almost blurted out that they would be the first to be abandoned among that thirty-person group, but Noh Ha-yoon chose not to speak those words. The men in front of us were adults. Their judgment might be correct, and there was no need to push my opinion.
“I guess we have no choice. We’ll head directly to the exit with them! Ha-yoon, I will accept my punishment upon returning to the guild!”
“Do as you please. And I’m not one to issue punishments.”
“Thank you…”
“Ugh…”
The Helen duo just sat silently, listening to their conversation. They had equally complicated thoughts.
“This is a gamble and a matter of luck. No one can guarantee the outcome, so I’ve got nothing to say.”
Of course, I firmly believed that our choice was the right direction, but I didn’t have a solid counter-argument to Hyung-jik’s theory of sacrifice.
“I’ll just die here.”
Surprisingly, the rock attribute sorceress Bae Joo-ah chose to stay with us.
“Just say you’ll stay, not that you’ll die here. You’re making us tense.”
“Hehe—just saying it that way.”
In the end, Noh Ha-yoon and Bae Joo-ah decided to stay with us while Guitar 2 and 3 were determined to follow their own paths.
And the Helen duo said, “Us? I’d rather fight and die together than follow those people. They may be many, but they’re clearly not that much stronger than me. And somehow, my instincts are telling me.”
“Well, who knows what our skeleton will do? Right, Il-wol? Huh?”
Shivering—
Now, Jin-kyeong, who affectionately called my name and even linked arms with me, was trying hard to suppress the tremendous fear hidden beneath her bright voice.
“Phew… If I survive this, I might just want to quit.”
“I’m feeling done too… between the dungeon break and the weird atmosphere recently.”
“I need to think about it too.”
Though they often joked about quitting being hunters, today it came out more sincerely.
‘Encountering other hunters unexpectedly wasted our time unnecessarily.’
We remembered several specific locations from our ten days in Course C. One of them was a very narrow canyon where we could fight back-to-back, and we planned to buy some time there against the monsters.
It seemed like we were walking into a death trap, isolating ourselves, but going toward a location where we could fight without concern for direction was the only way we might survive. And that kind of closed terrain became necessary for me.
Of course, we needed to reach there first. It was still about a 30-minute run ahead, and there was a possibility of getting caught before that. In that case, it would all be over.
“Let’s start running.”
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