Chapter 73
Corpses were piled up everywhere, randomly tangled with each other, and stacked up to my waist. Of the original twenty, the monsters were now down to three, and the rest of them had to jump over their fellows’ bodies to attack me.
[Woo Yeon-Hee has used Physical Healing.]
[Your injury will be slightly recovered.]
I hurdled the pile first, scattering the notification message that popped up and rushing into the remaining three. They had no choice but to face me.
BAAAAAM!
I used Iron Skin on my left fist and punched one of them, then dealt with the other two swiftly.
“Clear.”
Woo Yeon-Hee was already covered in blood, as she had to go across the corpses to reach the door. She grimaced but didn’t close her eyes as this wasn’t her first time stepping over dead bodies. We circled the entire room along the wall to be cautious. Shit, there was no door. She checked the map.
“We have to get back to the first room. It’s all blocked here,” I said.
There were four doors in the first room. One opened into the corridor that led back to the entrance room, and the other led to another corridor that ended at the room we were in now. The best-case scenario would have been getting to the boss room by the first route we had explored, but we had to be satisfied with completing the extermination and one-on-one quests.
“At least, we're lucky that this route was short.”
I told her honestly, and Woo Yeon-Hee nodded.
“We have enough food and water for two weeks,” she responded.
It took one day to clear one room.
“We must either secure the Escape Insignia or destroy the dungeon by then,” I said.
She asked, “Do we have enough time?”
I had calculated on the premise that we would carefully ration our food for four weeks, so it had been two weeks since we had entered the dungeon.
***
Strictly speaking, Woo Yeon-Hee wasn’t even treated as an F-class, since she only had three types of stats. No one considered traits or skills when calculating a hunter’s class in my previous life, as basic stats with no cooldown time were more significant. Even if the skill and trait class were high, they were useless if the hunter didn’t possess the minimum stats.
Even hunters who possessed A or S-class skills were evaluated based on their basic stats, and these were basically monsters who aimed to open higher-class boxes such as the master box. They were already powerful in the first place. Therefore, hunters decided on the average of four stat categories, and healers were no exception.
Currently, we—an F-class hunter and another hunter even below that class—were trying to conquer a dungeon that five E-class hunters had barely handled in the past. Woo Yeon-Hee was referring to that fact before the boss fight.
“The boss monster must be on a different level, right?”
I could guarantee that fighting against the boss monster without knowing its weakness was suicide. However, we didn't have that problem, as it was my fourth time coming here. I had barely survived the first attempt the military forced me into, and I had only seen the end of the dungeon on my second entry. I had been thrown into this hell with a party of ten and had fought with the surviving four over the rewards.
“It’s not the boss monster we should worry about. We should be careful choosing which door to open, since the wrong one will lead us to death,” I said.
“...This is luck, right?” she questioned.
“Yes, follow me.”
I had to convince myself that our fortunes were at their peak. Woo Yeon-Hee carried a backpack, and we both walked toward a door. The first corridor of the first route had been quiet, the second room had required a day, and after five days, we were back in the second room. We both smelled terrible and all the clothes we had were nasty. We had been wiping our faces with a handkerchief soaked in a small amount of water, as there was no water supply in the dungeon.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
Woo Yeon-Hee looked miserable, as if she would have sold her soul for a warm shower. She answered with a nod.
Although we had had to wander around in the two paths of the second room, we had gotten some rewards. There was a dungeon box, and I had received the Escape Insignia which was now carved on my chest. Woo Yeon-Hee had opened another bronze box with her points and increased her Health by eight, so her Health stat was now F(20). She now had the stamina and energy of an athlete.
“Let’s return to the entrance room. We should choose a new route,” I said.
“There’s one more route here,” she replied.
No, I was suspicious of that unopened door.
“We haven’t encountered any mutts or warriors. Things don’t work like this here. It might be a trap,” I responded.
She asked, “Can I tell you my opinion?”
“Go ahead.”
“I feel like the dungeon has been luring us away from this door. Since you’ve secured an Escape insignia, why don’t you recharge yourself and bring some more supplies? Your parents might be waiting for your call, too,” she said.
“So, you’ll stay alone in the dark?” I asked.
“Isn’t it safe since the alarm didn’t go off? I’m fine with that.”
Woo Yeon-Hee was pretending to look calm, but while she was brave, I couldn’t use the Escape Insignia before the food became scarce. The insignia was literally as valuable as my life. I then turned my gaze to the unopened door and thought about what she said. There had indeed been cases where the dungeon had lured the Awakened away from their objectives.
Woo Yeon-Hee had been correct. In the room, there were a monster with red eyes, two Declan warriors, and regular mutts. It was by far not an empty room, and it had dozens of small burrows dug toward the underground. Lucky hunters called this a treasure room, and I called it that as well since I was fortunate enough to tag along with a healer.
In any case, this meant we were on the right track. The boss’s room would open up if we cleared the bodyguards! In a single glance, we could see all the mutts, and their intense murderous eyes targeted me. My body trembled, but I knew what I needed to do.
[You have used the ‘Blockade’ Insignia.]
The room was filled with a reddish web and strange vibes swayed the space. The color of blood triggered the rage of all the mutts, and they went frantic.
Aaaargghhhh!
Their deafening roars rang in my ears, and the room turned into the waiting room of Hell.
[You have used ‘Speed-up’ Insignia.]
[Number of use remaining: 1]
[Your Agility class has changed: F → E]
Woo Yeon-Hee did what she had to do before I said anything. I had confirmed her ability to use the skill while we recharged ourselves. Her Bravery skill was like drinking a hunter drug in my previous life.
[Woo Yeon-Hee has used Bravery.]
[Your will to fight has slightly increased.]
The tremors on my fingertips disappeared, probably as my temperature increased. But my heart was still pounding.
[You have used Iron Skin.]
[You have used Odin’s Wrath.]
I was ready. If Hell was behind them, I could only kill them all and see it for myself.
“I’m going to slay you all! Ahhhhhh!!!”
I forgot the taboo of the dungeon that I had emphasized to Woo Yeon-Hee. Agonizing screams burst from everyone in this room, including myself. They roared louder when I howled, as if they were suffering from the harsh pain.
***
From Woo Yeon-Hee’s perspective, Seon-Hu was eating up his life to kill monsters. She had experienced a lot of things, and every day, more frightening scenes happened in front of her. She had given up on hoping that things would become better.
This scene was exactly one of those. The limbs of the monsters were flying in the air. As monster corpses piled up, even more monsters that thirsted for Seon-Hu's blood swarmed around him, frenetic and savage. It was like he was struggling to survive in hell.
“How…”
Seon-Hu had told her: the fear he had let her feel when he had first opened the door to hell was natural, and so was the fear she was feeling now. It was as necessary as breathing to survive. Therefore, she couldn’t understand his behavior. This man was sublimating fear and pain into strength. It had been three weeks since they had come here. Woo Yeon-Hee was barely holding herself together with each passing day, but Seon-Hu’s eyes had only grown sharper. He feared the dungeon, but didn’t let the fear stop him and continued to move.
“How can he do that…?”
She had to trust him, wait for him, and survive. As he always said, she had to stay alive to heal him.
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