95.
Seonghyun felt a strange sensation and tensed his body. He instinctively sensed danger, as if a monster was approaching.
Being naturally sociable, Seonghyun had become quite close with the Dark Net Guild members in his team. After enduring difficult battles together, it would have been harder not to become close.
The only person he hadn’t bonded with was Sehun. Even considering their age difference, Sehun always seemed distant.
He was always by Jian’s side, and Seonghyun had never seen him interacting closely with other Dark Net Guild members.
“Are you alright?”
Sehun’s sudden gentle demeanor felt strange, but thinking he might be overreacting, Seonghyun smiled.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m used to wounds like these.”
He had suffered penetrating wounds to his thigh and abdomen shortly after entering the maze dungeon. Counting minor cuts, he had bled dozens of times.
Fortunately, he had avoided all poisoned needles and wasn’t intoxicated, but his complexion was still pale. He had drunk a wound healing potion, but he had lost a significant amount of blood at once.
“I’m worried something serious will happen if you get hurt more. You should stay close to me.”
Sehun’s point made sense. If his head got impaled by a thorn vine, he could die instantly.
Ultimately, out of fear of death, Seonghyun pushed aside his uneasy feelings and stood close to Sehun.
The monsters’ attacks continued even after they descended to the ground.
Seonghyun helped Sehun deal with monsters, but since the appearing monsters were quite powerful even among A-rank, he mostly played a supporting role.
‘The bleeding has stopped.’
At some point, he noticed the area around his wounds had become clean. He had used the wound healing potion he got from Sehun to treat major injuries, but left minor ones untreated.
The situation had been urgent, and he thought it would be difficult to use healing potions when really necessary if he treated every small wound.
But strangely, the bloodstains that had covered his skin disappeared. It was as if his skin had been wiped clean with a wet cloth.
Concerned about this strange phenomenon, he looked around. His first worry was that there might be a new monster he hadn’t noticed.
“Sehun! Where are you?”
As Seonghyun’s mind was in confusion, he heard someone calling for Sehun. Sehun looked beyond the wall with a smiling face.
He seemed quite cold when expressionless, but his smile revealed how young he still was.
As Seonghyun unconsciously lowered his guard against Sehun and awkwardly rubbed his nape, Sehun used telekinesis to collapse the middle of the wall.
“Sehun!”
Jian, spotting Sehun, rushed over with drooping eyebrows. Though they hadn’t been separated for long, when Jian realized Sehun wasn’t by his side, he was overcome with a feeling like the ground was crumbling beneath him.
He had moved frantically from that moment. He dispatched the surrounding monsters at once. Hiding was futile.
The moment he activated his attack skill, all monsters were marked red.
He heard Siyun exclaiming in admiration beside him, but Jian just ran through the maze, calling Sehun’s name until his throat was raw.
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
Jian gently stroked Sehun’s cheek and sighed softly. Sehun silently pulled Jian into a tight embrace and nuzzled his forehead against Jian’s neck.
“You’re quite injured.”
“The monsters are certainly strong. We really need to be careful now.”
Siyun expressed concern seeing Seonghyun’s clothes torn in several places. Seonghyun merely shrugged.
It wasn’t as if he had lost a limb; he had come prepared for injuries of this degree.
“Your body is clean again. Did you find time to wash up?”
When Siyun laughed incredulously, Seonghyun shook his head. His voice rose at the end, feeling wronged.
“That’s not it. The bloodstains suddenly disappeared. Guild Leader, have you seen any monsters here besides the dwarves and thorn vines?”
“No. And the maze itself is a monster. It’s more accurate to view the entire dungeon as a monster.”
“Really? I thought so. When we used flight skills to go up, the walls rose with us. But it’s really strange. My body suddenly became clean even though I hadn’t wiped off the blood. Come to think of it, the blood on the floor disappeared too.”
Seonghyun frowned and examined the dirt floor.
Unless he had short-term amnesia, there should have been darker traces in various spots, but it was clean as if all the blood drops had evaporated.
‘Could it be…’
Jian’s eyes trembled slightly at the conversation behind him. The word ‘blood’ stood out clearly.
Just in case, he examined Sehun’s facial expression. Seeing his innocent gaze as if he knew nothing, Jian’s heart pounded rapidly.
“I was so worried when I couldn’t see you, hyung.”
His gently smiling eyes were beautiful enough to make Jian forget the situation. It couldn’t be what he was thinking. And nothing serious had happened.
It was just that the blood from Seonghyun’s body had disappeared. However, he was worried that Seonghyun and Siyun might develop unnecessary suspicions because of this.
They seemed to think it was the work of a monster that hadn’t yet revealed itself, but if similar situations repeated, they might suspect Sehun.
“Let’s find the others now. It seems the walls take some time to recover after being broken through with strong force.”
Siyun, having finished talking with Seonghyun, addressed Jian and Sehun. The maze wall that Sehun had broken through earlier was already filled in, leaving only a fist-sized hole. Even that seemed about to disappear completely.
Swish. Swish.
Faint sounds like insects moving could be heard from all around, as if warning them not to forget. The glimpse of a dwarf’s pointed ear indicated that an attack would soon begin.
“We’ll look for them. Team Leader, please go to the portal area and set up the safety stone first. Otherwise, we might all keep wandering in the maze.”
“Moving separately is definitely better. It would be trouble if the people coming after us also get caught in the maze.”
Jian decided it was better to move with just Sehun to prepare for any situation. Fortunately, Siyun, without any particular suspicion, moved with Seonghyun to find where the portal might be.
He said they would look for areas with strong mana flow using Seonghyun’s exploration skill.
“Sehun.”
Once they were alone, Jian grabbed Sehun’s hand to meet his gaze.
“Yes.”
Sensing the change in atmosphere, Sehun responded obediently.
“Did you use a blood-related ability?”
“Um.”
Sehun couldn’t answer Jian’s question easily. Strictly speaking, he hadn’t properly used a skill. It was more like a slight modification.
The name of Sehun’s awakened blood-related skill was ‘Bloody Sword.’ It was the ability to create weapons using blood. However, there was additional information appended as a note:
[It’s also possible to use someone else’s blood. However, it also absorbs the target’s life force.]
When he smelled the metallic scent of blood, his heart beat rapidly and his mind became hazy as if under a spell. Sehun instinctively realized his body was craving blood.
When he checked his status window, he saw that his mana and health had decreased by more than half. It was the result of the continuous battles from the 31st floor, with the reduced amount not properly recovered.
He had used his ability instinctively. He pretended to create a weapon by absorbing Seonghyun’s blood but only absorbed the life force within it.
As a result, his mana and health, which hadn’t changed despite drinking recovery potions, recovered slightly.
“Was telekinesis alone not enough?”
Jian was afraid, not understanding why Sehun had suddenly used a blood-related skill. He recalled the cruel scenes described in the novel.
Wherever Sehun passed, there were always corpses that had been drained of blood and turned into mummies. Seonghyun’s unusually pale complexion kept bothering him.
Shhhriik—!
As they tried to continue their conversation, they were interrupted. Sehun blocked a flying poisoned needle with one hand.
The thorn vines had also resumed activity. The walls seemed to writhe, and vines as thick as thighs shot out from all directions.
Jian quickly used a defensive skill. Numerous poisoned needles and thorn vines were blocked by the barrier.
When their attacks failed, dwarves emerged from various spots, bristling.
They had a bizarre appearance: small in stature, coming up only to an adult man’s waist, with pointed ears sticking upward, and only one eye embedded in their face.
Shik! Shik!
Their frenzied jumping up and down in place was threatening, but they were safe for 10 minutes.
“I don’t want you to be unnecessarily misunderstood by others.”
After choosing his words, Jian spoke in a careful voice.
It was difficult for him to watch Sehun inflict wounds on his own body to use his ability, but more than anything, he wanted to prevent Sehun from taking someone else’s life.
