Chapter 96

<Hello?>

“Is it okay to talk?”

<Yeah. What’s up?>

“Do you guys have any other S-Rank dungeon schedules lined up?”

<Yeah, we do.>

“Where?”

<There’s a dungeon that appeared in the Gyeonggi area called the Plains of Centaurs.>

“Centaurs? Anyway, when are you going?”

<Tomorrow. Late afternoon.>

“Got it. Are you broadcasting it?”

<No.>

“Why?”

<We failed last time, remember. No deaths, but still…… Anyway, the guild master said there’s no need to show a failed run, so we’ll broadcast it once we succeed.>

“I see. Okay. Send me Juinhwa’s cell phone number.”

<Alright.>

With that, the call ended, and a text message arrived shortly after. He immediately called the number. After a few rings, the other party picked up, and Jaeha spoke right away.

“Is this Juinhwa’s phone?”

<Yes, it is. Who is this?>

“This is Na Jaeha.”

<Oh? How did you get my number?>

“I asked Hana for it.”

<……Well, why did you call?>

“I heard you’re going to a dungeon tomorrow. Mind if I come watch?”

<Watch?>

“Yes.”

She was silent for a moment. Then, shortly after, she spoke.

<If I said no, would you not come?>

“Well, if you said no, I’d just go check it out myself. Or if that’s too much trouble, I could call the Chairman.”

<Tch. Fine.>

“What time?”

<We’re scheduled to enter at 4 PM.>

“I’ll be there on time. See you tomorrow.”

With that, Jaeha hung up and rose from his seat. He glanced at Bloodia beside him and thought for a moment.

‘What should I do with her.’

Keeping her was fine, killing her was fine, and giving her to Hajin was also fine. After a brief moment of thought, Jaeha decided to shelve the matter for now.

“Let’s eat. You, head down to the sparring ground.”

“Yes.”

With that, Jaeha got up from his seat.

* * *

After thinking for a moment, Jaeha smiled and looked at Bloodia beside him as he spoke.

“Don’t take those off.”

“They’re a hassle.”

“Shut up.”

With that, Jaeha began moving, following the people walking ahead. Once inside the dungeon, he moved to the front line this time. There, he met Kim Hajin.

“Yo.”

“Oh. You joined this guild too, hyung?”

“I’m a freeloader.”

“Ah, so you only come when needed?”

“Yeah. When I have nothing to do or when I’m needed. But who’s the lady next to you? First time seeing her.”

“Oh. She’s a monster.”

“A monster?”

“Yeah. From the dungeon the Blue Dragon guild went to yesterday.”

“The Sanctuary of the Succubi?”

“Yeah. The boss monster there. The Succubus Queen. Her name is Bloodia.”

At that, she naturally took off her sunglasses.

“…You used Taming on the boss of an SS-Rank dungeon?”

“Yeah. It just sort of happened.”

“That’s insane. Can she talk well?”

Hajin looked at the tamed vampires behind them as he spoke, and Jaeha nodded.

“You watched the broadcast yesterday, right?”

“I did.”

“The boss there talks when the fight starts.”

“Right.”

“I thought it was just an event thing or scripted dialogue that plays when summoned. Turns out it wasn’t.”

“Then?”

“She has enough intelligence to hold a conversation.”

Then Jaeha looked at Bloodia and spoke.

“The name Bloodia wasn’t something I gave her either—she had it from the start.”

“So the SS-Rank dungeon bosses have intelligence.”

“Yeah.”

As Jaeha and Hajin talked, the hunters nearby listened in cautiously.

“Anyway, what about combat ability?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t used her yet.”

“Ah, right.”

“So I’m planning to test her out now.”

As he said that, Jaeha looked ahead toward the centaurs in front. The centaurs, with the lower bodies of horses, radiated a sturdy, powerful aura from their forms.

“Bloodia.”

“Yes?”

“Catch one.”

She nodded and dashed forward. Moving at incredible speed, sharp claws had already grown from her hands by the time she reached the centaur. She struck it with those claws.

But the centaur dodged the attack and struck Bloodia with the spear it held. The long spear buried itself in her chest, yet Bloodia ignored the attack as if it were nothing and sliced the centaur’s neck clean off with her claws.

When she finished off the centaur in a single, clean strike, the hunters nearby swallowed hard.

“Not bad.”

“……That’s ‘not bad’?”

“I was debating whether to get rid of her, but I guess keeping her is fine.”

“Hahaha……”

Hajin let out a sigh at that.

“Come on. Start the actual raid. You’ve done your testing.”

At that, Juinhwa also gave out various orders, and the real hunting began.

Chapter 16

The raid progressed fairly smoothly. The centaurs dropped two main byproducts. First was the spear the centaurs carried. Since it wasn’t a metal that existed in the world, it possessed tremendous strength and hardness.

“Eh. It’s worse than adamantium. And it’s softer than orichalcum too.”

“That’s true, but even if it’s just demon realm iron, comparing plain iron to those metals is unfair to them.”

Jaeha said while examining the weapons, and Bloodia nodded in agreement. The second byproduct was the horseshoes.

The horseshoes themselves were useless, but if they could be forged into weapons using the same metal, they seemed usable.

“Forging method?”

“Yes. Could you tell us?”

“Hmm.”

Jaeha picked up a few horseshoes and began to think. Then he used Metallurgy to create a hammer and struck them a few times.

“Regular fire won’t cut it.”

“Then?”

“Well, if you had a spirit summoner contracted with a Salamander, or a fire mage of the 8th circle who could stack fire magic several times using a magic circle, that kind of fire might be enough to forge it.”

“……So basically, we can’t do it?”

“Well, go find an 8th circle mage.”

“……Haah. Can you use this?”

“With my Salamander, melting this much is easy. Besides—”

As he said that, Jaeha drew up the energy of the Crimson Flame Art and began melting the horseshoe.

“—I have my own fire power.”

“……I feel like I’m becoming an idiot.”

Saying that, Juinhwa turned around. Not long after, the party arrived at the Wave Room. Upon arriving, Jaeha slowly looked around and noticed there were many injured people.

“Are you going to help?”

As he was looking at them, Juinhwa asked Jaeha.

“Sure, I’ll do it.”

Leaving the injured party members behind, the group entered the Wave Room. Then, after using Bloodia to slaughter the centaurs, Jaeha looked toward the boss room.

“Can you take the boss too?”

“Not sure. I can’t say for certain.”

“So it’s worth a try.”

“I’ll go in alone.”

“Mind if we watch?”

“……Do whatever you want.”

Jaeha entered the boss room, and Hajin, Song Hana, Kim Sena, and finally Juinhwa followed him in. As they filed in, Jaeha spoke.

“Stay in the corner. If you pull aggro, things could get annoying.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t worry.”

Then Jaeha looked at Bloodia and spoke.

“You know that thing?”

“I may have lost to Master and become Master’s slave, but I am still the Queen of the Succubi. Asking if I know such a worthless monster is too cruel.”

“……If you don’t know, just say you don’t know.”

“……”

Jaeha let out a sigh and looked at Bloodia.

“Take care of that thing.”

At that, Bloodia stepped forward with confidence. The centaur looked at the approaching Bloodia and spoke.

“A peculiar being.”

“So are you.”

“……But you shall not claim this body’s throne.”

The King of the Centaurs rose from his seat. Then he picked up the massive halberd lying beside him.

“Huh?”

Seeing that, Bloodia suddenly let out a small sound.

“What?”

“That weapon.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s kainium.”

“What?”

“That weapon has kainium in it. A small amount, but it’s there.”

“How do you know that?”

“Kainium is a metal that can only be made with the blood of the Demon Race. I can sense it.”

“Then you should’ve said that yesterday.”

“……I got hit too many times yesterday. My head wasn’t working right.”

“……”

At that, Jaeha had nothing more to say. He thought for a moment, then nodded.

‘Maybe the system set it up that way. Something that can only be explained by seeing it. It could’ve set up all sorts of scenarios. Or…… maybe she genuinely forgot.’

Letting out a sigh, Jaeha spoke.

“Then in a way, you’re basically his counter. Can you win?”

“What do you take me for? Someone like that is easy.”

Watching Bloodia puff out her voluptuous chest as she spoke, Jaeha let out another sigh.

“If you get hit by a weapon with kainium in it, you can’t regenerate?”

“……I’m not sure? I don’t know about that. But the kainium in that weapon is such a tiny amount. My physical immunity would probably disappear, but I’m not sure about my healing.”

“Ah, I see. Got it. Go ahead.”

She seemed a bit worried, thinking for a moment before approaching Jaeha and speaking.

“You’ll help me, right?”

“……Shut up and go fight.”

“Hmph.”

Letting out that whine, Bloodia approached the centaur ahead of her.

“But we’re over here doing a comedy routine and the monster isn’t even reacting.”

“Probably because we haven’t entered its radius. It was the same last time.”

Juinhwa nodded as she spoke, and Jaeha quietly watched Bloodia and the centaur fight. As the battle continued for about thirty minutes, Jaeha realized his hypothesis was correct.

‘All SS-Rank dungeon bosses seem to have physical immunity.’

“Ugh.”

Bloodia, who had been fighting continuously, grew irritated that her attacks were being ignored by immunity while she took hits directly, and began to draw up her energy. Then she started fighting while deflecting the centaur’s attacks.

“Spectral Form, huh.”

Jaeha thought about what that was, then recalled the skills she possessed and nodded.

“Well, last time Amy would dodge like that whenever she used a really big spell.”

Before long, Bloodia began to ravage the centaur. Once the centaur could no longer resist, Bloodia swept back her sweat-soaked violet hair and asked Jaeha.

“Um. Master.”

“What?”

“I, um, used up quite a bit of energy. Would it be alright if I drained this one’s life force a little?”

“……Sure, go ahead.”

He felt a little uneasy, but it didn’t really matter to him, so Jaeha said that. At that, she smiled, turned into spectral form, and dove into the centaur’s body. Then the centaur’s body began to wither like a mummy.