Chapter 26

At that, Cho-i felt she didn’t know how to answer. A plausible answer here would be, hmm.

“Severe menstrual cramps.”

“Ah…”

“Ah…”

At those words, even Suui Kim, who had belatedly followed Yeonsu Nam and was approaching Cho-i, let out a sigh.

“That’s unavoidable.”

“It’s… unavoidable.”

They nodded their heads with expressions that were either simple or understanding. Cho-i laughed, feeling like they understood her well, and moved past the situation.

“Still, the injuries are severe, oh?”

Yeonsu Nam, who had expected severe injuries since Cho-i had crouched and endured attacks for a long time, questioned Cho-i’s wounds.

“You weren’t as hurt as I thought?”

“The item must have been good. It’s a good thing I took it.”

“No, even so, it’s only a B-Rank item…”

“I dodged well.”

Cho-i’s injuries were almost all regenerated. Yeonsu Nam looked at her with a displeased expression, then cast a healing skill to completely heal her minor wounds.

“If it hurts more, tell me. I also have skills that act as pain relief.”

“Got it. But I think I’m fine now.”

“That’s good then.”

Yeonsu Nam’s voice lowered a bit.

“Period cramps just hit you suddenly, don’t they? Are you really going to be okay?”

“Oh, I’m really fine.”

Actually, she’s not even on her period.

“Alright. Then. Just hang in there until we leave.”

“Okay.”

And so, the party of eight began to move forward. Regardless of their rank, the large number of party members meant their speed wasn’t slow. They advanced, catching swarms of Mantises. It was when they were right in front of the boss monster that Cho-i discovered a stone with an inscription.

“Huh?”

Cho-i blinked, looking at the stone.

“Just a moment.”

She had the party members, who had finished off all the Mantises and had Mantis corpses at their feet, pause for a moment and headed towards the stone. From behind, Suui Kim said,

“Why bother with a stone you can’t even read anyway?”

Cho-i was interested in the stone tablets inside the dungeon to learn about her abnormalities. She couldn’t read them anyway. Yes, it was right that she couldn’t read them.

‘Huh?’

But Cho-i, looking at the stone tablet, opened her eyes wide. The stone tablet found in the Mantises’ dungeon had letters written on it as if slashed with a knife.

‘Why, can I read it?’

Her pupils trembled. The meaning of those completely unfamiliar letters was naturally being interpreted in her mind. She fumbled with the stone tablet.

“No, wait a minute.”

She began to haltingly interpret the entity. It wasn’t completely clear. The entity was read haltingly, like a child who had just learned the Korean alphabet. There were letters she couldn’t read, but the very fact that she could even attempt to read was different from before.

‘Inside the Queen’s cocoon. And…’

The inscription was a bit longer, but only a small part of it was readable.

[Inside the Queen’s cocoon, only one. Egg sac. Gather them. And so, will be born.]

That was all Cho-i could read from the nearly five lines of inscription. Cho-i stared at the stone tablet for a long time to imprint the unreadable letters in her mind. And when she had roughly memorized the entity, she turned around and went back to her party members.

“What on earth is it?”

“Oh, I’m actually very interested in the letters inside the dungeon.”

“Really? That’s surprising.”

They thought she was someone completely uninterested in intellectual pursuits. Everyone thought silently and fell silent. Cho-i, completely unaware of their silence, just smiled and tilted her head. Everyone shook their heads as if it was nothing.

“Alright, it’s the boss monster now. Let’s just push a little harder.”

“How long have we been in here?”

“Two and a half days. Of course, it’s faster than usual with so many people. And the tanking is stable.”

Yeonsu Nam said. Everyone had no choice but to nod again. With the tank holding all the monsters’ aggro and tanking stably, the dealers just had to randomly take down monsters. As they walked, the party soon found the boss monster. Naturally, it was a Mantis. But its body was several times larger. Cho-i opened her system window.

[??? (??)]

It seemed her name wasn’t visible because they were the same rank. She clicked her tongue in regret and looked back at her party members.

“Do you need any preparation?”

The A-Rank dealers shook their heads. Soon after, Suui Kim spoke.

“B-Rank party members, please provide support from the rear.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Hunter Cho-i Hyeon, please focus on not losing aggro.”

“Understood.”

“If you experience unexpected pain like before, give a signal in advance.”

Suui Kim worried about Cho-i Hyeon in her own way. But since the pain earlier wasn’t real menstrual cramps, Cho-i blinked. And she nodded for now. But Suui Kim, still not reassured, spoke to the B-Rank tank.

“If anything happens to Hunter Cho-i Hyeon, you must immediately take aggro. And focus only on defense. The healers will cast healing skills centered on the Hunter.”

“Understood.”

In terms of simple defense and health, the B-Rank tank was only slightly better than an A-Rank dealer. As if he knew the situation, he hardened his face and resolved himself.

‘Anyway, I won’t need to use him.’

Cho-i thought. And then she remembered the message she had seen a while ago.

‘Growth is slowing down.’

That probably meant that she, the host, or something inside her had reached a certain level, so to raise her rank further from here, she would have to do incredibly hard work. Then, unless she tried to remove the ring, pain wouldn’t come. She took a few steps forward.

“Let’s go.”

“Let’s focus.”

“Yes!”

With those words, Cho-i immediately charged at the boss monster Mantis. Her feet, pushing off the ground, and her tensed thighs swelled. And in one go, she climbed onto the gigantic Mantis’s back and plunged her sword into it.

캉!

“Oh, really now.”

As expected of a boss monster, its neck, which was the weakness of other Mantises, was tough. As she jumped down from the Mantis, she clashed her Sword and Shield, clang, clang! to focus the monster’s attention.

“Starting now!”

With that, the dealers charged in. The healers stood at the very rear and began to watch Cho-i intently. She immediately clashed her sword with the Mantis’s foreleg in a slashing attack. CRASH! The sound of sharp objects colliding echoed. Cho-i knew that the boss monster, being the same rank as her, was not to be underestimated. She had known this fact quite well back in C-Rank, but after only going through lower-rank dungeons and dungeons of lesser rank than herself for a while, the forgotten sensation came back to her.

“Ah…”

She let out an ecstatic groan.

Monsters don’t need equipment. Their hard shells and sharp teeth are their own equipment. But only humans, who lack such things, are particular about equipment. The equipment Cho-i is currently wearing is B-rank+. She felt she was slightly outmatched.

“Is she really A-Rank?”

To the dealers attacking the hard shell from behind, Cho-i, who was exchanging blows with the boss monster alone, looked like a monster.

“Why is she grinning like that?”

And the bright, beautiful face smiling broadly sent shivers down their spines. They felt they would never understand that woman’s mental state. Clang! Clang! She and the Mantis exchanged blows. When the Mantis raised its head to attack the dealers, she swung her sword at its neck. About a third of its neck was severed. The Mantis then turned its head back to Cho-i. It instinctively recognized the strongest one here.

“Try harder!”

Cho-i shouted. The party members, thinking she was talking to them, gritted their teeth and attacked. Namsu Kang’s magical bullets tore through a thin wing, and Suui Kim’s blade half-severed a thin leg. Cho-i, filled with more excitement, swung her sword upward in one swift motion.

“Kiiiiiiek!”

The Mantis’s scream erupted. And its massive body began to stagger.

“Just a little more!”

Someone shouted. Cho-i lunged into the Mantis’s embrace. And from behind Cho-i, the Mantis’s huge blade stabbed her in the back.

“Hunter Cho-i Hyeon!”

But whether the Mantis’s blade tore her back or not, she plunged her sword into the Entity’s belly. Slash! She immediately thrust the sword downward. As the monster’s internal organs spilled onto the floor, its massive body collapsed. And after wriggling for a while, it soon stopped moving.

“We… we did it!”

“We… we can leave!”

The B-Rank party members finally seemed relieved and sank to the floor. Cho-i was enjoying the lingering sensation in her hand. Ah, dungeons are good. A place where she can give her all. For her, who was always stretching her whole body, needing a place to exert her strength, it was more necessary than anything else. She was feeling the Entity now. Whether this sensation was truly hers or not. Suui Kim approached the Mantis’s corpse to collect items. And Namsu Kang, who was watching this, suddenly spoke.

“Huh?”

He blinked, looked around, and said,

“Why isn’t the exit opening?”

At his words, everyone raised their heads. And just like him, they began to look around. Nowhere was there an exit. At that moment, a system window appeared in front of everyone’s faces.

[The boss monster has been replaced due to the death of the Mantis! Defeat the new boss monster!]

“What did you say?”

They were in chaos. One of the B-Rank hunters screamed. The boss monster was dead, but the exit didn’t open, and a window popped up telling them to kill a new boss monster? While they were in a panic, Kim Suui, who had finally regained her composure, spoke.

“Everyone! Calm down! This is the first time this has happened, but it seems we just need to find and kill the new boss monster! We still have time, so it’s not a desperate situation.”

Then a B-Rank hunter said,

“But what if another boss monster appears when we kill that one? What if this keeps repeating?”