Chapter 93

“Was the trip here alright?”

“Of course.”

Jaeha continued the conversation while exchanging pleasantries, then looked at them and spoke.

“And the preparations?”

“Everything related to the guild has been taken care of. The establishment is complete as well. It looks like we’ll be able to start clearing the various dungeons under our guild soon. People are gradually gathering too.”

“Well done.”

“Yes. Though for now, the only members in the guild are the alchemists from our Alchemist group, so we’ve run into a bit of a problem when it comes to hunting.”

“Why?”

“Our lifelong dream, or rather our wish, was to revive alchemy. Because of that, everyone here loves research. So there aren’t many of us who go out hunting. Since we need to gather people for that, it’ll probably take some time.”

“I see. So what about the distribution channels?”

“I thought it over carefully, and rather than picking one place and distributing worldwide from there, it seems better to secure influential suppliers in each country.”

“Handle it however you see fit. I’ve entrusted it to you.”

“Yes. I’ll do my best.”

“This is the Neutralizer.”

With that, Jaeha opened his Inventory and took out the Neutralizer. It was contained in a 10-liter bottle. He then wrote something on a piece of paper beside him and handed it to John.

“The recipe.”

“Ah, yes.”

He immediately put it into his Inventory.

“I’ll explain the usage on my broadcast too, but you need to make sure the sellers inform people as well. If non-Hunters consume it before it’s been neutralized, they’ll be in for a rough time.”

“They won’t die right away, will they?”

“They’ll stay in a coma for a few days and then die. Print a large warning label on it. Whether you’re selling it or not. Or alternatively, sell it to a large corporation that handles butchering or similar work so the product can come out individually packaged.”

“Understood.”

After exchanging a few more words, Jaeha stood up from his seat and spoke.

“Since you’re here, show me your alchemy skills. Let me see how much you’ve improved.”

“Yes. I practiced a bit on the way here as well.”

Jaeha then went with the group to the place where they had studied, cleared away the equipment there, and checked their skills.

“You have improved.”

“Yes. Teaching others has led to a lot of realizations, it seems.”

“That’s how it usually goes.”

After spending some time conversing and checking their skills, Jaeha finished up and returned home.

* * *

“Aren’t you going to work?”

“Ahh, too lazy.”

“You know it’s been over two weeks since you last broadcast, right?”

“Still, my ranking is still within the top 500.”

“That’s only been maintained because you’ve been uploading the mukbang videos so far. Now there are no more videos to upload.”

“Haah, I guess I need to work.”

At Sia’s words, Jaeha muttered absentmindedly. Not long after, the voice of an announcer began to come from the TV.

<For the first time in our country, the Blue Dragon Corps, the strongest combat unit of the Blue Dragon Guild, will be attempting to clear an SS-Rank dungeon. Three individuals who have appeared on streamer Na Jaeha’s broadcast and possess both popularity and skill are reportedly part of this Blue Dragon Corps.>

“Hmm. Well, quite some time has passed. It makes sense their preparations are done.”

“Since things have turned out this way, shouldn’t Master also have content you can do consistently?”

“Well, that’s true, but—”

“The number of SS-Rank dungeons that have appeared worldwide is close to a whopping 1,000. And of those, only about 2 have been cleared. Even those 2 cleared dungeons were raids with over 300 challengers, and more than 50 of them died, I heard. If Master did it, you could clear one without a single casualty…… don’t you think you’ve been resting too long?”

“Hm.”

After thinking for a moment, Jaeha looked at Sia and spoke.

“Alright. Give me a second.”

With that, Jaeha took out his cell phone. Then he called someone.

“Hello?”

<Hello? Oppa?>

“Yeah, Hana. How have you been?”

<Of course. What about you, oppa?>

“I’ve been…… alright, I suppose.”

<I watched your broadcast. My friends and I really enjoyed the meat you sent too. It was seriously delicious.>

“Is that so? Anyway—”

<Yeah.>

“I heard the Blue Dragon Guild is attempting an SS-Rank dungeon clear this time.”

<Yeah. That’s right.>

“Where are you headed?”

“The place we’re headed is the Sanctuary of the Succubi.”

“Succubi, huh…… Are you broadcasting the raid too?”

<Yeah.>

“Got it.”

<Why? Did you call just to ask about that?>

“Yeah. I’ve been taking a break from streaming lately, and it’s about time I started again. There aren’t many good content options out there.”

<That’s true. But you could just keep doing mukbangs. There are still plenty of monsters worth eating.>

“That works once or twice. You have no idea how much of a hassle it is to keep cooking.”

<Well, I guess that’s fair. But why are you asking? Are you thinking of doing one too, oppa?>

“I wanted to know if the difficulty gap from S-Rank is that big. Plus, I don’t know for sure if viewers would even like it. I figured if you guys broadcast, I could watch and get a feel for the situation.”

<It doesn’t really matter to me, but if that’s the case, you could just come help us out.>

“Why would I go help? Too much trouble.”

<Tch. Fine.>

“Good luck with the broadcast. Take care of yourself.”

<Yeah. Got it. I’m hanging up.>

After hanging up the phone, Jaeha turned to Sia, who had been quietly watching him talk the whole time.

“Let’s decide based on the broadcast. Whether we need to make different content or not.”

“Understood.”

Having said that, Jaeha looked at Sia as she snuggled into his arms.

* * *

After taking it easy for a few days, Jaeha prepared some snacks when it was time for the broadcast to start, and sat down with Sia to watch.

“They prepared well.”

It was obvious at a glance just how thorough the preparation was. That made sense—the enchanted arrow quivers could be identified by their rank and type through color and pattern.

The basic four-element Low-Rank arrows were stored in red quivers, Intermediate in blue, and finally High-Rank in yellow.

But the enchanted arrow quivers shown through the screen right now were all yellow. Watching that, he quietly waited for the raid to begin.

It took quite a while before the dungeon raid finally started. As they entered the dungeon and moved through it, Song Hana, who was hosting the broadcast, scrolled through the viewer list and spoke.

<Jaeha contacted me earlier, by the way. He said he’d be watching the broadcast. Is he in here now?>

But Jaeha didn’t bother typing in the chat, and before long, Hana seemed to spot him.

<Ohh. There he is.>

—Jaeha (meaning Jaeha is here.)

—Jaeha, aren’t you streaming?

—Seems like it’s about time for you to go live.

Watching those chats, Jaeha scrolled down the chat window. Not long after, Hana’s party encountered a monster.

Remembering that the dungeon was called the Sanctuary of the Succubi, Jaeha smiled as he looked at the monster’s appearance.

“They really do look like succubi.”

“Hmph.”

At that, Sia let out a nasal sound as if something didn’t sit right with her. The succubus wore clothing so skimpy it was practically see-through—almost every part of her body was visible.

They looked like the kind of outfits you’d see in certain videos. Other areas could be excused, but even the vital parts were only somewhat covered. And even then, they weren’t fully concealed—they were made of mesh, so if you looked closely, you could see through them.

<That’s a bit inappropriate for a broadcast.>

Even while Hana was saying that, her party members were each making their own preparations, and before long, they charged toward the succubi—about ten of them in sight.

<Kyahat!>

As the hunters approached and launched their attacks, the succubi let out somewhat strange sounds and began to fight back. Watching that, Jaeha smiled as if a bit surprised and spoke.

“The difficulty’s lower than I thought.”

Quietly observing the succubi’s fighting style, Jaeha muttered under his breath.

‘Their fighting style uses those long nails, and they have self-regeneration?’

The succubi blocked the warriors’ attacks. But about 50% of the time, they didn’t bother blocking or dodging—they just let the attacks hit their bodies.

The problem was that no blood came out, and their wounds healed in an instant. Watching that, Jaeha began to feel something was gradually off.

“Something’s weird.”

“What is?”

“Hard to describe the feeling. It’s just…… a little strange.”

“So what exactly is strange?”

“I can’t tell yet. Maybe I’ll know if I watch a bit more.”

Having said that, Jaeha quietly watched the broadcast. Whether it was just the succubi’s fighting style being that reckless, they essentially fought by taking hits with their bodies, so before long, the succubi couldn’t hold out and collapsed.

And once the succubi’s corpses appeared, people gathered around and began dissecting the bodies.

“I wonder what’ll come out.”

“Who knows?”

And so they dissected the succubi’s corpses, and were able to find a pink orb in the spot where the heart should have been.

<So this must be the byproduct. Let’s hold onto it for now.>

Having found the byproduct, they stowed the corpses in their Inventory and resumed hunting. The hunt continued more smoothly than expected, and before long, they arrived at the Wave Room.

“Do you think they’ll do well?”

“Well, looking at the succubi’s fighting style, if they make good use of Enchanted Arrows, I’d say they can clear the Wave Room without much trouble.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

At Jaeha’s words, Sia nodded and focused on the broadcast again. Just as Jaeha had said, the Blue Dragon Guild cleared the Wave Room without issue, leaving only the Boss Room.

“The Boss Room should be smooth sailing too, right? Since they cleared the Wave Room, which is supposed to be the biggest problem.”

“Unless there’s a variable.”

“Huh?”

At that moment, on the broadcast, Hana’s party began entering the Boss Room.

“It’s an SS-Rank dungeon.”

“Yes……”

“SS-Rank. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s true that the difficulty is a bit higher than S-Rank dungeons. But if you think about it, compared to the dungeons at the top end of S-Rank difficulty, there doesn’t seem to be that much of a difference. There’s no way the system doesn’t know that.”

“SS-Rank. In other words, the fact that the system itself has recognized a rank one step above S-Rank might mean there’s something more to it?”

“Exactly. The two SS-Rank dungeons cleared overseas—we can’t help but assume they were dungeons on the Lowest Rank tier. I heard their difficulty was around S-Rank level. The byproducts they produced were also S-Rank efficiency. Which means a proper SS-Rank dungeon might not have appeared yet.”

“Are you saying, Master, that a problem could arise with the boss?”

“That’s right.”

Saying that, Jaeha prepared a donation on his cell phone. Donating 300,000 won, Jaeha began typing a message.

Ding-dong—

<’Na Jaeha’ has donated 300,000 won.>

<Song Hana. Don’t let your guard down in the Boss Room. I’ve said it again and again, right? Hunt while assuming the worst-case scenario.>

Whether she caught Jaeha’s donation, Hana checked the broadcast. Then she nodded.

<Yeah. Got it. Oppa. I won’t let my guard down. Don’t worry.>

And with that, she entered the Boss Room immediately, where the boss sat on a large throne in the center. The boss felt vastly different from the other succubi. Above all, unlike the other succubi, it had large demonic wings sprouting from its back.