98.
There was a rattling sound from the empty floor, and then a skeletal hand suddenly shot up from the ground.
Having seen this sight a few times before, Jian approached the skeleton. A skeleton with the same structure as the dwarves rose from its place and looked up at Jian.
Where eyes should have been, there were empty sockets emitting a greenish light. Its posture, with arms hanging limply, reminded him of someone.
“Fo.llow. the. ske.le.ton.”
A mechanical voice flowed from the jawbone with only bones remaining.
“Looks like Group 2 has entered the dungeon too?”
The ability to create and control skeletons from monster corpses was Ahn Yongho’s signature skill.
Enough time had passed for Group 2 to enter already. The party supported the injured and followed the skeleton. Sehun dealt with the monsters that kept appearing.
After walking for what felt like forever down paths that all looked the same, there was a small murmur of voices, and then a portal with a blue light appeared.
“This battle was really the hardest…”
Though Jian didn’t say anything, he agreed with Jihwan’s words. Siyun ran over with a grave face when he saw the fallen guild members.
Those with healing and recovery skills surrounded the injured. Jian also met up with Hyunwoo, who had been waiting for them.
After Group 2, Group 3 had also entered the dungeon, and the safe area was teeming with all sorts of people.
“Are you all uninjured?”
“Of course we got hurt. We treated ourselves with recovery potions.”
Jihwan shrugged at Hyunwoo’s concerned question. Jungsu discretely showed the marks remaining on his side.
“I’m so glad everyone is safe…”
Hyunsu glanced at the fallen Blue Dragon Guild members with a pale face. Their faces, drained of all blood, looked like corpses and were frightening.
“Is anyone poisoned? Should I use my purification skill? Those dwarves were shooting poison needles.”
Hyunsu’s face fell, thinking that he had been comfortably in the rear while everyone else was fighting such difficult battles.
“We’re fine. There will be more injured people when the battle resumes. Save your strength for then.”
Jian said, patting Hyunsu’s back. Everyone had used many wound recovery potions in this dungeon.
They could get supplies from those coming after them, but there might be urgent moments when using recovery potions would be difficult.
Hyunsu’s S-rank ability was impressive enough to heal all the wounds of everyone present at once.
Siyun resumed the battle only after the last group had entered. The injured and those with support-type abilities remained in the safe area, while the rest formed new teams to eliminate monsters.
The S-rank Hunters were the standouts in this battle. Siyun and Yongho were already well-known, and the existence of Sehun and Hyunsu had already created quite a stir.
However, since Jian was still publicly known as an A-rank Hunter, he unintentionally drew attention.
When the last dwarf fell to the ground, people’s gazes gradually converged on Jian.
Jihwan and Jungsu joined them, looking at Jian with suspicious eyes.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Why does Jian seem different from other A-ranks? Almost like he’s a different rank.”
“I agree.”
Jihwan brought it up first, and Jungsu added his opinion. Only Hyunwoo, who already knew Jian’s rank, looked away and pretended not to notice.
Most of the people gathered here were A-rank. There were occasionally B-rank Hunters too, but they were few in number, included only because of their special skills.
Even among A-ranks, Jian’s ability was overwhelmingly superior. Jihwan narrowed his eyes, recalling how Jian had taken down dozens of dwarves without changing expression.
While he himself had struggled with each one, Jian used his abilities as if he were an S-rank Hunter.
The defensive skill was the same. Although the duration of Jian’s defensive skill was similar to other A-ranks, there was a huge difference in power.
Normally, when dozens of vines struck a barrier, it would shake as if about to break at any moment, but Jian’s barrier remained unshaken, like in a mattress advertisement.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually S-rank and have been hiding your rank all this time?”
Jihwan asked Jian in a hushed voice. He covered the sides of his mouth with both hands so others couldn’t read his lips.
Even Jungsu, who usually didn’t care about others’ business, perked up his ears, and Jian awkwardly smiled while fiddling with the nape of his neck.
“That’s right.”
In fact, Jian had expected the moment to reveal his Hunter rank to come sooner. Siyun and Yongho seemed to have noticed long ago.
However, either because they kept quiet, or because others who had received hints from them also pretended not to know, no one had directly asked about his rank. Except for Jihwan.
“Wow… How could you hide it until now? That’s really unfair.”
As Jihwan made a hurt expression, Jian averted his gaze.
“Stop interrogating him.”
As Hyunwoo stepped forward, unable to watch anymore, Jihwan’s eyes sharpened.
“It seems the Guild Master already knew?”
“Of course. Jian and I are the closest.”
“My head is really spinning from this betrayal…”
Jihwan muttered with a wounded expression as Hyunwoo made matters worse by bragging.
“I didn’t mean to do it. I had some circumstances I couldn’t talk about.”
“Well, whatever. You’re not someone who would hide this for fun, Jian, so you must have had a reason.”
Fortunately, Jungsu quickly got over the shock and took Jian’s side. Since it had come to this, Jian, after consulting with Hyunwoo, told the others about his Hunter rank as well.
As expected, Siyun and Yongho didn’t seem surprised at all. Hyunsu grinned slyly as if he knew all along that Jian was the same rank as himself.
“I always knew Jian hyung was hiding something. Raising Han Sehun was already extraordinary.”
Jian wondered what kind of image Hyunsu had of Sehun. Though curious, he suppressed his curiosity for the sake of his mental health.
Siyun decided to take about half a day of rest after clearing the 40th floor. Although there were no casualties, more than half of the party had sustained serious injuries.
Even after recovering with wound recovery potions and skills, they had lost a lot of blood, so rest was essential.
Various sizes of tents were set up within the safe area. Jian also entered a two-person tent with Sehun.
He laid out a sleeping bag and looked up at the temporary light hanging above the tent. Moments of peril during the battle came to mind.
His heart felt heavy at the thought that someone might die soon. Then he turned his body, feeling a gaze from beside him.
“You must be tired, why are you just looking at my face?”
“Because I want to see you. I want to get out of the Tower quickly and be alone with you.”
Sehun also leaned his face on his arm and matched Jian’s gaze. As he leaned closer with the urge to kiss, Jian suddenly blocked Sehun’s lips with his palm.
“Not here.”
Due to limited space, numerous tents were set up so close together that there wasn’t even room for a shoe between them.
The tent they were currently lying in was flanked by Hyunsu and Hyunwoo’s tent on one side and Jihwan and Jungsu’s tent on the other.
Just from hearing Jihwan and Hyunsu’s voices coming through the tent walls on either side, it was clear how poor the soundproofing was.
Even though he had announced that he was dating Sehun, he had no desire to broadcast their intimacy in real-time.
“…But I want to.”
Sehun’s eyes turned sulky. Judging by his gaze, he didn’t seem to intend to stop at just a kiss. Jian slowly turned his back and closed his eyes.
He felt that if he continued facing Sehun, he might give in and accept his advances.
“Let’s just sleep. We need to rest now to have strength for tomorrow.”
Although not detailed in the novel, it was clear that the difficulty of the dungeons increased as the floor numbers increased.
They needed to conserve as much strength as possible until they encountered Cerberus. Even trying to sleep in a sleeping bag, this was still inside a dungeon.
Unavoidably, they had to live with a constant slight tension. Perhaps due to the impact of seeing many people seriously injured today, the mental fatigue was considerable.
As he closed his eyes, drowsiness overcame him. Just as his consciousness was fading, he felt a warmth enveloping his body.
In the embrace that was more than enough to wrap around him, Jian fell into such a deep sleep that he didn’t even dream.
Sehun also tried to sleep following Jian. As Jian said, there were many variables in this place. He didn’t want to feel the despair he had experienced when he was separated from Jian as soon as they reached the 40th floor again.
The sounds of conversations coming from around them gradually disappeared one by one. As the lights illuminating the inside of the tents went out, a quiet darkness descended.
After some time had passed, while everyone except the Hunters on guard duty was enjoying a sweet rest, a shadow moved stealthily.
The hem of a pitch-black robe rippled like waves within the shadow.
