110
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Samin stared at Doun with an extremely serious expression.
‘How do you hit a magical beast in gaseous form?’
They had tried every method possible. The biggest obstacle in conquering floor 55 was the burden of prolonged battles where they had to fight against the side effects of potion addiction due to mana consumption.
To conquer a floor boss that constantly became gaseous and scattered, the fatigue accumulated from battles to reach the floor boss and the body condition where side effects began to appear from frequent potion consumption became obstacles every time.
But what if they could attack even in gaseous form and reduce the floor boss battle time?
It meant the difficulty of conquest would drop significantly.
“You can hit it when it’s in gaseous form?”
When Samin asked again, Doun nodded.
“I don’t know if this applies to the floor 55 floor boss too, but there’s the silence skill among my skills.”
“The one hyung used before? The one that briefly stops skill casting?”
“Yeah.”
When Doun nodded, Choi Jiyoon, who had been watching the video nearby, turned her head.
“Silence?”
“Don’t you have that skill too, noona?”
Samin directed his gaze to Choi Jiyoon. Everyone was familiar with the skills each other frequently used. If they couldn’t even share basic information about skills, how could they entrust their lives to each other?
While they might want to monopolize rare skill acquisition conditions and be reluctant to reveal them or only tell close acquaintances, sharing skill names, ranges, and effects among the same conquest team members was essential in principle.
The reason Doun’s skill information could circulate among hunters like a public good was because Doun had directly shared it. Information he had shared without hesitation because he trusted his guild members was not only used as proof to show off connections with the rank 1 hunter, but some had even sold the acquisition information Doun provided for money.
“I have it, but the cost-effectiveness is too poor so I don’t use it. I have to manage the mana needed to maintain the buffs I’ve cast too.”
Advanced buffs require continuously paying the caster’s mana as a cost to maintain their effects. If mana is insufficient, the buff effects disappear, and if buffs are cut off in the middle, situations can get tangled in an instant.
“Can you hit it if you cast silence?”
When Samin urged, Doun answered with a somewhat burdened expression.
“Yeah. Serpent Ghost was like that. I think gasification is treated as a skill.”
“It’s not that we haven’t thought gasification might be a skill…”
Samin uncharacteristically trailed off. There were quite a few hunters who had the skill called ‘silence’ that Doun mentioned. The problem was that there was no one who had enough mana to cast silence skills against the floor 55 floor boss while maintaining buffs cast on conquest team members.
In Yeoun Guild, which had come to pursue a small elite force half-voluntarily and half-involuntarily, there were only two supporters included in the top floor conquest team: Choi Jiyoon and Hong Chan.
Just counting the buffs they had to cast on conquest team members, there were several. The buffs cast on hunters in dealer positions were different from those cast on Park Sangyeon who served as tank, and the buffs cast on healers and those in charge of collection were all different too. The only overlapping buffs were shield buffs that halved damage to the body and attribute resistance buffs suitable for terrain.
Since the duration times were all different, they had to cast new buffs before the buffs expired while also maintaining them. Moreover, since they had to deal with magical beasts that dealers missed together with those in charge of collection and healers, it was a position where nerves had to be on edge from the moment of entry.
That’s why they couldn’t consider silence skills. They had calculated from the beginning that it was impossible.
“The time hyung used the silence skill on floor 54 was on the mid-boss.”
“Yeah.”
“Would it work on the floor 55 floor boss too?”
Samin muttered while tapping his thigh with his index finger. Actually, he knew Doun couldn’t give a definitive answer since he hadn’t even entered floor 55. It was close to talking to himself. However, Doun gave his usual response.
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll just have to beat it to death when it takes physical form.”
When the soft-looking guy who seemed like he couldn’t kill a single bug casually said he’d beat a magical beast to death, his heart strangely fluttered. Samin suddenly stood up and looked at Doun.
“Hyung. Come downstairs with me for a moment to get something.”
“What?”
“I forgot I left something in the suitcase in the sleeping room.”
If it was something that could fit in a suitcase, it wouldn’t be that heavy. Doun was puzzled for a moment, then thought he vaguely understood why Samin was doing this.
“…Okay.”
When Doun stood up following Samin, Do Hyeonwoo scratched his chin.
“Jiyoon noona. Silence, is that hard to get?”
“What was the acquisition condition for this…”
The topic naturally shifted to skills. Leaving behind the guild members who had started discussion again, Samin and Doun left the conference room.
“You’re lying about getting something from the suitcase, right?”
“…Who knows.”
“Are you really going to get something?”
“What do you think?”
Samin gave an ambiguous answer to Doun’s question and entered the room labeled as a sleeping room.
Though thirteen people had gathered for the retreat discussion, there were only eight sleeping rooms, so they had to share rooms appropriately. Naturally, Samin had claimed the largest sleeping room first, saying he would share with Doun.
There was a clicking sound as the door locked. It was when Doun’s gaze naturally turned toward the door. His body was suddenly pushed backward, both cheeks were grabbed, and lips approached.
“Mmph.”
Doun rolled his eyes as if he had expected this. Whether the stinging glare hurt or not, Samin frantically sucked on Doun’s lips before lightly pressing against them and muttering.
“Ha. I thought I’d go crazy wanting to kiss hyung since earlier.”
Excitement was dripping from his voice.
“Hey, wait… Not here, mmph.”
With his relentless advance, the bed frame was already touching his calves. Though Doun urgently tried to stop him by tapping Samin’s shoulder, his lips were helplessly sucked.
Samin gently licked over the tightly closed lips with his tongue, whining for him to open his lips.
‘Ah, why is he like this again…’
Though flustered, Doun hesitantly parted his lips. A tongue penetrated between the soft lips.
“Ngh…!”
A whimper leaked past his throat as his tongue was strongly sucked. At the frantic pouring kisses, Doun had no choice but to cling to Samin with his body relaxed.
The hands gently cupping his face seemed to fall away briefly, then the angle of their interlocked lips changed. With just a slight turn of his head, he felt the tongue entering deeper.
“I really want to throw away conquest and everything and just date hyung all day.”
Samin grumbled while laying Doun on the bed.
“Ngh, not dating, but… lewd things…”
“I won’t particularly argue with that.”
Samin chuckled. Then he sucked hard on Doun’s white nape. Doun, who was shocked that it would leave marks, grabbed Samin’s hair and forcibly pulled him away.
“Hey, that’s a visible place…!”
“There are potions.”
Even with his hair grabbed, Samin showed no sign of displeasure and grinned slyly.
“…Sometimes I hate being a hunter…”
Doun grumbled while hugging Samin’s head. It wasn’t enough that he had to take potions because his stamina ran out after sex, now he had to take potions to erase kiss marks left by his boyfriend. Though his touch gently stroking Samin’s head was affectionate because he felt sorry for grabbing his hair, his expression looked a bit dejected.
Samin giggled while sucking on Doun’s collarbone and nape plenty, then slipped his hand inside his t-shirt. Soft skin clung to his fingertips.
“Ngh…”
It was when Doun moaned while shrinking his body. Samin’s hand was about to go down when he suddenly touched his own face.
“Ah. I didn’t bring the condom box from home.”
His voice sounded gloomy, mixed with annoyance and regret. Doun recalled the small box Samin had shown him. The one containing all kinds of gels and condoms would be sitting in their bedroom nightstand drawer.
“You…”
“If we went to get something together and came back up after a while, the kids would think it’s strange, right?”
“Is that supposed to be words?”
Doun made an incredulous laugh while pinching Samin’s cheek painlessly. Samin forcibly pulled his body back while letting out a deep sigh.
“…Just wait until that magic stone carrier arrives.”
“Be honest. What did you buy that carrier to put in it?”
“You want me to be really honest?”
Samin answered while rubbing Doun’s nape with subtle touches. He liked the vivid red marks on the white, straight nape. But if he drank a potion, they would disappear as if they had never been there. Samin felt both regretful and relieved about that.
For his boyfriend who habitually worried about others’ reactions, kiss marks that disappeared with potions would be a comfort.
“You should be honest.”
As soon as Doun spoke with a sulky face, Samin wiggled his eyebrows.
“What else would there be besides condoms and gel?”
“This perverted bastard…!”
Doun glared at him with an ‘I knew it’ expression. Though his gaze was sharp, his voice trembled so much it wasn’t even threatening.
“Haha. Thank you for the compliment, honey.”
Samin grinned widely while lightly kissing Doun’s lips. Then he took out a potion from his inventory and opened the cap.
“Drink this. It’s a bribe in return for your compliment.”
When he pretended to offer it respectfully with both hands, Doun sat up and received the potion bottle.
“To think this pervert is my boyfriend.”
Though it sounded like regret at first hearing, Samin was smiling brightly. Because the undeniable affection was fully revealed in Doun’s eyes as he glanced at him while drinking the potion.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
