Chapter 51

The necklace, which fit snugly around her neck, was a lusterless black and felt as if it were made of metal.

“Am I going to put it on without thinking and get another weird curse?”

Cho-i grumbled. She didn’t have an item appraisal skill. Therefore, she could only confirm the item’s effects by wearing it herself. She put the necklace around her neck. The necklace clung to her skin as if she were its original owner. And as soon as she put it on, Cho-i’s eyes widened at the effects of the necklace that appeared.

[Devil’s Necklace (SSS-grade)] [Can summon Devil’s Hand. Stats permanently increase. Cannot be removed once worn.] [Health +66666 Strength +66666…]

She made a subtle expression, looking at the stats that were ambiguously high for an SS-Rank item.

“How do I summon Devil’s Hand, ugh!”

As soon as she said Devil’s Hand, Cho-i screamed at the numerous black arms that shot up from the ground. Oh, so she had to shout the skill name? But the summoned arms immediately attacked Cho-i. Sharp claws scratched her face.

“Aargh!”

While she screamed, those many arms covered her body. Her whole body was torn apart. Amidst it all, she screamed and then urgently shouted,

“Go home, you bastards!”

At her words, the arms vanished instantly. She lay tattered on the floor for a moment. Then she scrolled down to read more of the item’s description.

[Devil’s Hand Control Level 1]

“Damn it, so I could only summon them, not control them…”

And as she snatched the item, she looked around for the vanished Black Hands. The arms that had risen from the ground were clearly black.

“Those black things must have been the Devil’s Hands.”

Anyway, this wasn’t the time for this. She hurried out of the cave.

“Ah!”

And as soon as she came out, things with white arms and black claws rushed at her again.

“Damn it, they’re coming at me again!”

She started to move forward, pushing past the Entities. In the meantime, she also summoned Devil’s Hand to raise its level. It only went up by 1, but even 1 was enough to make it listen a little if she yelled at it. She sighed. She’d rather die than be sick. No, she couldn’t die, could she?

“More importantly, big brother, how are the hidden item’s stats?”

“Oh, they’re killer.”

“Killer, huh?”

Cho-i laughed.

“Hey, do you know how much my stats have gone up? My rank also went up to A-plus.”

“How much…”

Just as she was about to ask, something came to mind.

Ding. A system window appeared before Cho-i’s eyes.

[supporter registration] [Nara Shim] [empty slot] [empty slot]

“Huh…?”

She stared at her system window for a moment. Could it be because Suui Kim had reached A+ rank?

‘Does helping like this count as being involved in their growth?’

With a dazed expression, she put Suui Kim into one of the empty slots. Then another alert popped up.

[Congratulations!] [Your rank has increased!] [One empty slot for supporter has increased!] [□□ □ in □ of □□□□□!]

“What is this now…”

And instantly, dizziness overwhelmed her. It wasn’t just dizziness. A creepy sensation, as if something was crawling inside her body, enveloped her. She gasped for breath, doubling over.

“What’s wrong!”

Suui Kim, who had been watching Cho-i, shouted. She couldn’t answer and trembled. There was something in her body. Something was crawling. Ah, ahh. She finally collapsed to the floor. She saw Suui Kim holding her falling body and looking down at her. Lying there, she looked at him and then closed her eyes. The sensation of every single blood vessel being torn apart was painful and too, too unfamiliar. Enough to make her want to faint.

* * *

She had a dream. She could only think of it as a dream. Countless Mantises were before her. Specifically, at her feet. She looked around. She was standing in the middle of an endless forest, and they were all bowing their heads. Yes, ‘they’. Cho-i unconsciously regarded the Mantises and herself as the same species. She walked, trying to clear her groggy mind. Wherever she walked, the Mantises retreated, their bodies and wings folded. They were small, so very small. As if stepping on them once would kill dozens. Cho-i walked. And then she found a place. A very small stone building. A small stone dome barely big enough to squeeze her body into. She squeezed herself into it and then slowly sat down.

“May our □□ □□□ □□ □□.”

An unfamiliar language came out of her mouth. She could understand some of it, but not entirely. She frowned, trying to interpret the Entity. But time did not wait for her. She felt like she was being sucked somewhere. And then she opened her eyes.

“Gasp!”

“Cho-i is awake!”

Yeonwoo Han’s voice was heard. She looked around. It was under a rock inside the Land of Devils, in other words, the dungeon. It seemed she had left the hidden dungeon while she was unconscious.

“Are you awake?”

Suui Kim’s blunt voice was heard. He approached her and felt her forehead.

“No fever. You were burning up earlier.”

“I was?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

She sat up and called up her system window. She thought she had seen a notification about her rank increasing just before she fainted, along with unreadable characters. Cho-i opened her system window.

[Cho-i Hyeon (S-grade)]

‘My rank definitely didn’t increase when I got the hidden item. That means my rank increased because of those mysterious sentences…’

There’s an unbridgeable gap between A-Rank and S-Rank. That’s why Suui Kim, who got a hidden item, only rose to A+ Rank.

“Ugh… my head hurts.”

“Huh? Hunter Cho-i, does your head hurt? Let me see.”

“No, not like that. It’s complicated.”

“What is?”

“It’s just something.”

Yeonwoo Han was fussing but quieted down when she was stopped. She brushed herself off and stood up. The spot where she had been lying was covered in dried bloodstains. She needed to get out and wash up.

“Alright, let’s get going again. We got the hidden item, after all. You’ve recovered, right?”

“I’ve recovered, but…”

“More importantly, how much time has passed for us?”

“I think we were in there for about six hours.”

“Six hours?”

Cho-i frowned. Wasn’t it true that time didn’t pass when you entered a hidden dungeon? Why did time pass normally here? As she pondered, Yeonwoo Han, who had the dungeon timer, tilted her head. There were so many unknowns. Cho-i shook her head and said,

“Let’s just get out of the dungeon. I’m tired.”

“Alright.”

The five people started moving again when they decided they had rested enough. Fortunately, nothing special happened on the way to the boss monster. It was just Suui Kim stopping Cho-i Hyeon from rushing out alone several times. Suui Kim, for some reason, consistently drilled into her what a tank should do, what they can do, and how far they can go. Namsu Kang, who was watching from the side, asked,

“That detailed?”

“Her judgment is broken right now. If I don’t teach her, she might do something like that again somewhere else.”

“You’re quite concerned, aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you be?”

“Well, yes, but…”

Isn’t he being a bit too much? Namsu Kang quietly watched Suui Kim and swallowed his words. It was obvious she wouldn’t accept it until she realized it herself. And so, on the seventh day, they safely stood before the boss monster.

“Ugh.”

Cho-i stretched her stiff body. Because Suui Kim was right next to her, constantly giving instructions like “do this,”

“don’t do that,”

“stay still,” and “do it like that,” she couldn’t properly exert her strength, and her whole body ached.

‘I never thought not being able to rampage would be this annoying.’

In the meantime, she had become frustrated. She wanted to rampage and cut things down to her heart’s content, but because she was mainly supporting the dealers defensively, her opportunities to face monsters naturally decreased, and of course, the risk of injury also decreased.

‘In a way, it seems like this is the right thing to do, though.’

It’s safe too. Choi stretched and then grunted, looking out into the distance. The large, round mass of flesh had cross-shaped bars, and next to it, wings made of human hands were spread out. From a distance, it looked like wings, but if you got closer, you’d probably see hands writhing and reaching out like the entrance to hell.

“It’s a bit smaller than the one I saw with the Guild Master last time.”

She figured it was probably because that one was S-Rank and this one was A-Rank. Choi looked back at Suui Kim.

“You’re not going to focus on defense here either, are you?”

“You have to do your best against a boss monster. You never know what might happen.”

“So you’re saying to do your best on defense?”

“Yes, offense is for the dealers. I’m not saying you should do nothing, but… Hey!”

As soon as she said that, Choi shot forward. This time she was so fast that Suui Kim’s outstretched hand couldn’t even reach her to grab her by the scruff of the neck. It meant she was determined. She drew her sword and jumped straight ahead. And instead of casting Shout, she launched a preemptive strike.

“Ahahahah!”

She laughed heartily and slashed the boss monster with her sword. But. Shaaak- Boom! The A-Rank boss monster was instantly split. Blood burst out, and countless hands flailed in the air. The central mass of flesh split open, revealing a hidden eyeball, which was also cut in half and spewed pus. Choi landed on the ground, taking the full spray of blood, and said,

“Oh, right. My rank went up again…”

Now she was a true S-Rank, so an A-Rank boss monster couldn’t possibly handle her. If Suui Kim hadn’t interfered with Choi’s actions at every turn, she wouldn’t have forgotten, but she hadn’t been able to use her strength much on the way, so she had completely forgotten.

“Haha…”