Chapter 20

Since the team was put together by the Paehyeok Guild Members, if even one person wasn’t compatible, things would usually go awry. But everyone here was easygoing and agreeable, so there were no problems. Then, a Paehyeok Guild Member said to them as they waited,

“Team 1, please enter.”

“Yes!”

“Here we go!”

With Cho-i in the lead, everyone stood before the brightly glowing dungeon. Signaled by the guild member’s nod, they immediately entered the dungeon. A slight dizziness swept over them. Cho-i felt her stomach churning. Ah, can I finally fight with some strength now? Can I properly ‘eat’? Enduring the dizziness, she closed and opened her eyes, and they were already inside the dungeon. The surroundings were filled with a gray light. This dungeon was…

“Fallen Heaven.”

Nara said aloud. The buildings, similar to Greek style but slightly different in shape, were all broken and scattered on the ground, and no monsters were visible yet. They gathered briefly to talk. Nara was the first to speak.

“The monsters here are winged and mostly fly low. It says that no one can fly high except for the boss monster, so even Ho-yeon, as a melee dealer, won’t have it too hard at first.”

“Yes!”

“Tanking won’t be difficult either.”

Nara Shim looked at Cho-i with eyes that said, ‘You’re the most unstable one.’ Cho-i tilted her head in confusion. What’s wrong with me? Nara gave up explaining and looked around at the others.

“Then let’s move slowly and safely. This place takes about 5 days at most, and the fastest clear time I know of is 3 days and 4 hours.”

“That’s very short?”

“It’s not bad for us to break the shortest time record, but it’s meaningless if someone gets seriously hurt, so don’t overdo it.”

“Understood.”

“Thank you, Nara.”

“You’re welcome.”

Yeonsu Nam nodded as she watched Nara brief them slowly. She had good leadership qualities. If she weren’t a buffer, she would have made a good leader. But the buffer class was the problem. A buffer was, quite literally, a support class. Cho-i stepped forward.

“There is no retreat for us.”

“Hey.”

Nara Shim called out to her with an anxious voice.

“For us, there is only going straight ahead!”

And with that, she began to march forward. Everyone shook their heads but followed behind her. As human presence was detected, monsters began to pop out one by one from various parts of the ruined buildings. The monsters here resembled angels. Not the beautiful humanoid angels we know, but creatures with several huge pairs of wings and a large eye in the center. Clang, clang, clang! Cho-i excitedly struck her new item, drawing aggro. And at that sound, the monsters hiding nearby poked their heads out. There were quite a few of them. The party members tensed, gripping their weapons tightly.

“That’s more than I expected.”

“Don’t be nervous.”

Cho-i darted to the front and opened her mouth.

[Casting skill Shout! The hostility of surrounding monsters is focused on the caster in proportion to the caster’s health!]

-!!

She roared. The sound was like the mighty roar of a lion, or the cry of a beast unknown to the world. Cho-i’s aggro skill, Shout. It gathers the hostility of monsters within its radius towards herself. It’s a skill used when facing multiple enemies at once, and she couldn’t use it properly when she was C-Rank. But now that she was A-Rank, she was using the skill freely.

“Th-they’re swarming!”

“Attack! The aggro is only on Cho-i!”

Cho-i parried and blocked the monsters swarming her with her shield, swinging her sword. With each swing of her sword, the angels’ wings were torn off and they plummeted to the ground.

[Monster defeated! Strength increased by 1!]

Cho-i’s eyes sparkled. It was a window she hadn’t seen in a very long time. The same alert she saw when she defeated the Mantises. Fortunately, that alert window seemed to be visible only to Cho-i. She scanned her surroundings with her eyes. And ignoring the alert window that appeared every time angels died by her hand, she began to stab her sword into the entities even faster.

[Monster defeated! Magic Power increased by 1!]

This was very good news for her. The fact that her stats would increase even if she hunted monsters other than Mantis meant that she could continue to grow in the future.

‘But since they didn’t increase in the out-of-rank dungeon, does that mean I have to hunt monsters of a certain rank or higher?’

Lost in thought, she moved through the middle of the Angels. Her party members, snapping out of it, began attacking the monsters. Hoyeon Kim rapidly swung her sword, stepping back and forth, and the archer Maru Dan shot arrows, hitting several eyes. Nara Shim, the buffer, cast a damage reduction buff on everyone, protecting Yeonsu Nam, the healer. Yeonsu Nam narrowed her eyes, looking at Cho-i Hyeon, who was tanking at the very front.

‘She’s not just good, she’s exceptional, isn’t she?’

Everyone was doing well, but Cho-i Hyeon was extraordinary. She deftly dodged the attacks of monsters striking with sharp feathers, split their eyeballs in half, and tore their wings. All in one hit. She was eliminating one monster with a single swing. She was killing more monsters than the damage dealers.

‘Is that really a C-Rank?’

Even a C Plus couldn’t display such overwhelming offensive power. Yet, her documents clearly stated she was C-Rank. Her hunter registration card said the same.

‘Should I go out and shake down those two?’

A B-Rank couldn’t shake down an S-Rank much, but if she threatened to tell the Guild Master, they might confess. Thus, the first group hunt concluded without any significant injuries. Cho-i’s armor had a few scratches, but they were just that—scratches.

“There was nothing for me to do.”

“You’ll have plenty to do in the future. I’ll be counting on you then.”

Hoyeon Kim flattered her with a playful remark. Yeonsu Nam wasn’t entirely displeased and chuckled. Her personality was so amiable that she could get along with anyone. They formed a formation and began to advance further. Cho-i walked, taking in the surrounding scenery. There were more inscribed stones here. And the shapes of the letters were also different.

‘Like different languages.’

If the letters she saw in the below-rank dungeon last time resembled earthworms, the letters here, with many right-angled forms, looked like a type of geometric shape. She stopped periodically to inspect those letters. When her party members looked at her with questioning faces, Nara Shim defended her.

“Cho-i is very interested in the materials that make up the dungeon. Ahaha, it won’t be a problem, will it?”

“Oh, I think it’s fine. Come to think of it, there are a lot of unreadable characters in dungeons. They say it’s different for each dungeon, but what do you think is written there?”

“I wonder.”

Yeonsu Nam continued.

“Since even the major guilds haven’t come up with a clear interpretation, it will take more time.”

“I don’t think it’s anything significant.”

Maru Dan replied. To him, those characters didn’t look like letters but rather a kind of scribble. After thoroughly examining the characters, Cho-i returned to the formation. After walking a little further, they found a large, temple-like structure. It was ambiguous to call it a temple because the ceiling had collapsed, but as they approached, monsters began to appear one after another.

“They’re swarming again?”

Cho-i raised her shield and tensed her thighs. And then, another Shout. At the grating roar that rose from her gut, all the monsters’ eyes lit up, and they began to charge at her. Because Cho-i’s aggro skill was quite excellent, her teammates could hunt the monsters with peace of mind.

“Cho-i, your side!”

At that moment, something grazed Cho-i’s side. While Cho-i was momentarily distracted by something else, one of the swarming Angels slashed her side with a sharp wing. However, she paid no attention, raised one arm, poked out the Entity’s eyeball, dropped it, and then stomped on it, killing it. Although her armor was split, exposing her side, no wound was left on her skin.

“F-fortunately, it seems my skin wasn’t grazed.”

“That’s a relief!”

“Yes.”

Cho-i answered. Actually, it had grazed her side. Since she was A-Rank, it was more like she hadn’t been wounded due to the difference in class, but she pretended not to have been grazed, swatting away the Angels that came close with her shield and swinging her sword. Clang, clank! The sound of metal clashing echoed continuously each time wings and swords collided. It was enough to make her ears ache. With a greater number of monsters than before, Nara Shim cast both a health increase and a strength increase buff simultaneously. Her magic power significantly decreased. Without hesitation, she took a mana potion from her inventory and drank it.

“I have enough magic power!”

And Yeonsu Nam, the healer, still had nothing to do. For her, who had thought she would have a lot of work to do, it was perplexing.

‘The tank is doing too good a job.’

If a melee dealer was about to get hurt, she would approach, swat them away with her shield, and thoroughly guard so that party members couldn’t get within a certain distance. And by defeating more Suui monsters than the dealers in front of them, other party members couldn’t get hurt even if they wanted to.

‘I can’t do nothing.’

She bestowed the skill ‘Benediction’ upon everyone. As the name suggested, it would recover even a little bit of their depleted stamina.

[Skill, Benediction, has been cast! Party members’ fatigue decreases!]

Words of thanks were heard from all over. Yeonsu Nam sighed. Those present had already passed the trial. As long as they didn’t commit any major blunders, they could become guild members.

‘I wonder if this trial is too easy for me.’

Usually, guild members disliked the position of secret examiner because it was bothersome. They had to disguise themselves as fellow trial participants and lead party members who were difficult to control onto the right path.

‘I feel bad for my comrades.’

But Yeonsu Nam was walking a very comfortable path. Everyone was doing too well. It seemed that the experience accumulated from other guilds was not short for any of them.