#24
Has it been 3 minutes yet? It feels like it’s been at least 10 minutes.
What the hell is Choi Do-jun doing?
While grinding his teeth in resentment, the air vibrated with a bang like a bomb exploding. Following that, a painful cry split the atmosphere.
“Kieeeeee-!”
As the boss mob’s egg sac burst, red bodily fluid flowed onto the floor. When the egg sac became flaccid like a popped balloon, the creature with a human appearance thrashed about, swinging its arms. It emerged from the egg sac as if shedding its shell, revealing a lower body that wasn’t two human legs, but a torso with eight spider-like legs.
Shocked by the visual, Seo Yi-young’s expression contorted.
The boss mob tried to escape quickly, but Choi Do-jun didn’t let it get away. However, surrounding mobs rushed at Choi Do-jun as if protecting their boss, covering him to the point where he couldn’t be seen.
The moment of surprise was brief.
The mobs exploded outward as if a bomb had been planted, and something shot out from between them—it was Choi Do-jun. The light that emanated from Choi Do-jun’s hands hit the boss mob’s head and heart precisely.
The boss mob convulsed violently, then immediately became limp and collapsed to the floor. The other common mobs began to panic from that moment. It seemed the boss mob had been giving all the attack orders. Though the mechanism was unknown, it was presumed to be using pheromones or something similar.
Some mobs fled, some lunged at the hunters, and others became entangled with each other, screaming. It was absolute chaos.
With the boss mob defeated, when would the conquest end?
Since this was his first time in an original dungeon, he wondered if this too was different from new-type dungeons.
In new-type dungeons, a portal would naturally open once the boss mob was defeated.
“We need to eliminate the boss mob and 90% of all mobs.”
Someone’s voice was heard.
What kind of rule is that? It’s impossible to know how many mobs there are in total.
That meant they couldn’t let the currently fleeing mobs escape.
As he was wondering whether to follow them, a hunter in charge of rear support stepped forward. As she extended her hand, a thin net-like structure descended from the sky, enveloping the mobs. While they were eliminating the mobs trapped in the net, unable to move, Choi Do-jun arrived.
Why did it take so long?
Though Seo Yi-young didn’t say it aloud, his thoughts seemed to have been conveyed.
“2 minutes and 50 seconds.”
Choi Do-jun said, tapping his wristwatch with his index finger.
Had it really only been that long? It felt like an incredibly long time.
Seo Yi-young pouted and used his ability on Choi Do-jun as well.
“You’re doing something unnecessary.”
“I want to get out quickly.”
Despite using his ability for him, not even receiving a word of thanks, what kind of response was that? His rudeness was truly a work of art. With Choi Do-jun’s response being so unfavorable, Seo Yi-young’s reply was equally curt.
He expected another spiteful remark, but Choi Do-jun said nothing and immediately ran toward where the mobs were.
Watching Choi Do-jun use his ability, it felt like he was launching missiles.
“…Amazing. How does he utilize it like that? Did he just travel through the light earlier…?”
“I’ve never seen anything like that before. Is it because he’s S-Class?”
He heard the support hunters muttering.
Only after hearing that did he realize that such utilization of abilities wasn’t common. Indeed, even in Seo Yi-young’s status window, abilities weren’t listed as multiple items but as unique characteristics. How to utilize them is up to the individual hunter’s capability.
While the method and range of ability usage are up to individual freedom, that freedom itself becomes a limitation. Expanding the range and method of utilization also depends on individual capability.
After Choi Do-jun joined in eliminating the common mobs, the situation began to be quickly resolved.
Although he knew Choi Do-jun’s firepower was incredible, now that he knew what other hunters’ abilities were generally like, he could newly appreciate just how amazing Choi Do-jun was. In less than a few minutes, most of the mobs in the field were dead.
From the mobs scattered on the ground, blackened by the light Choi Do-jun had emitted, came a stench that was hard to describe—a mix of burning flesh and a fishy smell. Though they were called mobs, their outward appearance was human-like, so the scene before his eyes was deeply etched into his mind.
It’s as if we’ve come to hell.
The hunters collecting items seemed busy gathering things that had fallen to the ground. The revulsion they had initially shown upon seeing the humanoid mobs seemed to have almost disappeared.
Just as he was wondering if the dungeon conquest wasn’t over yet, a strange, grating sound was heard.
“Dungeon conquest cleared!”
Someone shouted.
Looking around, unlike in new-type dungeons, there were no dropped items. Perhaps they don’t appear in original dungeons? As Seo Yi-young tilted his head in confusion, he noticed an entrance appearing in mid-air. Beyond the door, which seemed to be covered with a transparent membrane, the real world was visible. Once they crossed that, they would bid farewell to this dungeon.
The only problem was that the door was too high up in the air.
“1 minute remaining until dungeon deletion. Moving to the outside.”
While wondering how to climb up there without a ladder, he saw other hunters passing through in pairs. Typically, a combat hunter would grab a rear support hunter and leap up to enter.
While he was wondering what to do, his body was suddenly lifted. He realized he had been thrown over someone’s shoulder right after.
“Ack!”
The ground suddenly moved away. At the dizzying height, Seo Yi-young grabbed onto whatever he could. As he tightly closed his eyes, he felt the unique sensation of passing through the entrance. Afterward, with the impact of falling to the ground, Seo Yi-young involuntarily screamed “Ack!” once more.
Raising his head to see who had dropped him, it was none other than Choi Do-jun.
Regardless of being dropped, if it weren’t for him, he wouldn’t have been able to leave the dungeon, so as he was getting up to thank him, he heard Choi Do-jun muttering softly.
“What a burden.”
At those words, Seo Yi-young’s eyes hardened.
“You,”
Just as Seo Yi-young was about to say something, he managed to hold back, conscious of the people around. Regardless of Seo Yi-young’s reaction, Choi Do-jun ignored him and walked past him to go inside. It would have been better if he had mocked him or something… No, that wouldn’t have been better either.
Upon imagining it, he felt his blood boiling and immediately retracted that thought.
Seo Yi-young assured the people rushing to check if there was a problem with his condition that he was fine.
Jung Ui-jin, who had been waiting on the side, approached.
“Hunter Seo, thank you so much!”
“What? No…”
He seemed to have been waiting for Seo Yi-young to come out of the dungeon. As Jung Ui-jin expressed his gratitude for healing him, his nose turned red. Seo Yi-young was even more flustered by Jung Ui-jin’s reaction. Jung Ui-jin repeated that without Seo Yi-young, he might have died.
Honestly, if Seo Yi-young had known how to use his ability properly from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened, so there was a sense of guilt in receiving such gratitude.
Seo Yi-young vividly remembered Jung Ui-jin, who had saved him, groaning with his limbs severed.
Looking at him holding his hand, he opened his mouth.
“You’re not in pain anywhere, are you?”
“Of course not. How could I be when Hunter Seo healed me? Thank you so much.”
Jung Ui-jin, who was fervently expressing his gratitude, finally left when told he needed a brief examination.
As Seo Yi-young greeted Jung Ui-jin, who kept bowing as he left, he only then realized, “I really did use my ability.” It was a strange feeling.
At that moment, as Seo Yi-young looked down at his hand, he was shocked. His hand was covered in blood.
“Hunter Seo Yi-young…! Are you injured?”
“…No. It’s not my blood. Excuse me.”
“No, Hunter, just a moment…!”
Despite the staff member’s attempt to stop him, Seo Yi-young just said that and quickly left. He needed to find Choi Do-jun.
The time spent receiving Jung Ui-jin’s greeting and talking wasn’t very long. If he hurried, he could find him.
That guess wasn’t wrong. He saw Choi Do-jun getting into the elevator.
“Choi Do-jun…!”
Despite Seo Yi-young calling out Choi Do-jun’s name, the elevator doors closed.
“…That rude bastard, really…”
Seo Yi-young gritted his teeth, staring hopelessly at the closed doors.
The blood on his hands was Choi Do-jun’s. If this much blood had smeared, the injury must be serious.
He asked to be healed at other times, but now he’s being stubborn in a strange way.
He wanted to say let Choi Do-jun collapse or whatever, but…
“Ah, shit, really.”
He couldn’t do that.
Even with that hateful face, it’s just a matter from the previous dimension, and here, apart from speaking rudely, behaving impolitely, and acting spitefully… there’s quite a lot to exclude, but anyway, he hadn’t done anything particularly bad to Seo Yi-young.
Choi Do-jun was equally rude to everyone.
Seo Yi-young headed straight for the stairs. As he ran down, checking if the elevator had stopped, with each step, his breathing became more labored and his heart pounded as if it would burst. His legs also hurt terribly. As Seo Yi-young was thinking how great it would be to have teleportation ability or the ability to pass through walls at times like this, he recalled his own ability and immediately applied it to himself.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
