Chapter 107

“I was in the mine when that status window popped up, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.”

So Yeri the hunter sank deeper into the armchair with a sigh.

“If my Super Focus hadn’t broken midway, I might not have made it back in time.”

So Yeri’s Super Focus was a skill that didn’t appear in the status window.

It could be toggled on and off, but it seemed to be perceived more as a ‘state’ than a buff.

Under Super Focus, specific skill effects were enhanced, but other windows like hunter chat vanished, and her field of vision narrowed.

Yian let out a sigh.

“That was really close to a disaster.”

With that, she pulled her usual bed out of her inventory. Yian’s dedicated healing bed.

She then glanced at me and Shin Jae-heon, as if urging us to hurry up.

Nagging incoming…!

Tensing up, I spoke first.

“Treat us by age, please.”

I was born December 10th.

Shin Jae-heon was November 19th, so he was older. By age order, he’d go first.

“Treat us by name order, please.”

Not to be outdone, Shin Jae-heon piped up right beside me.

In alphabetical order, my name came first.

“……”

Our eyes met.

“Hurry up and go first. Who do you think blocked that ridiculous skill earlier? I can tell every joint in your body is aching right now.”

“I saw you use Instant Acceleration to try and land a heavy blow on that guy, only to stiffen up and take a hit.”

As we traded barbs…

“……”

“Gah!”

We shot up from our seats before the status window even finished appearing.

That’s draining Yian’s stats!

“Ah.”

As I jolted to my feet, I stumbled.

The impact from that guy’s attack earlier had been severe; a stinging pain shot up from the nape of my neck.

The moment Shin Jae-heon saw me, he declared,

“This guy’s it!”

He swiftly scooped me up and deposited me on the bed. He tossed me down like a sack, but his hands were gentle as he set me.

Only then did Yian halt the skill activation.

“You really should listen.”

So Yeri said, narrowing her eyes.

Before I could protest, Yian’s focused healing skill poured over me.

“How on earth did you run into something like that?”

As I clamped my mouth shut, Yian asked in a low,沉 voice.

She’s mad! This person’s pissed!

“No, I just went out for a drink, that’s all?”

I’d never planned to encounter that guy alone, not even a little.

“You saw the chat, right?”

I had zero interest in playing the dumb sacrificial lamb who declares, ‘I’ll take all the risks and die!’

I minimized danger as much as possible.

That was my philosophy.

This time, it had just been unavoidable.

If I’d dragged it out clumsily and died, only for the guy to go after So Yeri, we’d both be dead.

That would’ve been a total catastrophe.

At the very least, I had to land a critical hit on Epe from my side.

Even if I died, at least take one down with me, right?

“Do you know who it was?”

Then Shin Jae-heon asked. His blue eyes seemed darker than usual today.

“He said his name was Epe.”

“Epe?”

Shin Jae-heon furrowed his brow and rolled the name around in his mouth a few times.

Then he blurted out,

“Isn’t that the Eastern Empire’s swordsman?”

“He did mention looking for the Eastern Empire earlier.”

So Yeri chimed in. Right before dying, he’d spouted something about for the Eastern Empire.

“How do you know?”

Was he famous or something?

Well, he was strong enough that even an S-rank couldn’t see his level, so he could be a big name in this world.

No matter if he was a hidden route boss that spawned, RP Dungeons didn’t let boss monsters appear without narrative plausibility.

“The previous Western Empire emperor was killed by that guy.”

“Oh.”

From the imperial family’s perspective, he’d unintentionally avenged them.

“But why’d he go after you, Hunter Shin Yuri?”

Shouldn’t he have come for me instead?

Shin Jae-heon tilted his head as he said it.

Yian narrowed her eyes too.

“Is the RP Dungeon itself designed to put every party member in peril once?”

Shin Jae-heon shook his head at his suggestion.

“If so, it’d show up in the Apocalypse Prophecy. When our names appeared.”

“Hmm……”

That made sense too. As Yian hummed thoughtfully…

“Found it.”

So Yeri, who had opened the Apocalypse Prophecy, spoke up.

We turned, and she rotated the book toward us.

“……To test him?”

Shin Jae-heon exhaled in disbelief.

“The other pope, the Magic Tower Master, and the emperor all failed at assassination, so they wanted to gauge Epe’s capabilities first, I guess?”

So Yeri raised an eyebrow too.

“Man… From total scrub to this? Talk about rising from rags to riches.”

I muttered in absurdity.

At that moment, healing light cascaded over my head. I felt my body lighten up considerably.

This person really goes through hell joining our team.

“Thanks, Yian.”

As I sat up from the bed, I squeezed her hand tightly.

Yian smiled.

“You’re not getting hurt every day just so you can thank me daily, are you, Hunter Shin Yuri?”

……She was still a bit mad.

I stealthily shoved Shin Jae-heon toward the bed and escaped the wrath of the healer.

“Anyway, thanks everyone.”

I could finally breathe easy. I’d almost ended up as ground meat.

I’ve gotta hurry up and raise my damn rank.

As I grumbled inwardly, Yian shook her head.

“Good thing you messaged the chat ahead of time.”

“Yeah.”

Shin Jae-heon agreed.

It was a shared sentiment. I’d had a bad feeling about it.

“Our Yuri Hunter has great instincts~”

So Yeri smiled prettily. Then she flipped through the Apocalypse Prophecy.

“There’s more after that!”

Her bright tone suggested it wasn’t bad news.

Our eyes gathered back on the Apocalypse Prophecy.

“Serves him right.”

Well, that guy boasted he was the empire’s top swordsman, right?

He should’ve at least sliced up some fodder, but his sword broke, so the Eastern Empire nobles must be fuming by now.

From the start, he wasn’t into politics anyway; just drunk on power.

“Shin Jae-heon Hunter?”

Then Yian called out to him. Turning, I saw Shin Jae-heon glaring at the Apocalypse Prophecy.

It’s gonna burn a hole through it, dude.

“Not lying down?”

At my words, Shin Jae-heon snapped out of it late.

“Ah, sorry.”

He gave a slight bow to Yian and crawled onto the bed.

I could see the skill progress ticking up again.

“You okay?”

Maybe from rushing over, Yian looked especially tired.

Well, the Focused Healing skill itself gnawed at her mental strength, so using it often wasn’t ideal.

“I’m fine.”

Yian sighed as she replied.

“What kind of mess is this in the middle of the night?”

I let out a sigh too.

Everyone had probably rushed here with one or two penalty crisis windows hanging over them.

We’d really dodged a bullet.

Thank goodness they arrived at the right time.

More than anything, I was supposed to die originally. That’s how it was meant to go.

Without that skill, I would’ve.

I stared quietly at my skill window.

The completed sentence from earlier.

Your most cherished… My cherished ones.

Obviously, these people.

But.

‘Are you insane!’

The moment that sentence activated.

At that instant…… Shin Jae-heon had been behind me.

I turned to look at him. With his eyes closed, he wore a relieved expression.

We couldn’t stay long since we’d rushed out in such a hurry.

Leaving the safehouse that Shin Jae-heon insisted was a villa, we quickly returned to our positions.

Fortunately, So Yeri, who had relatively free movement, seemed to have avoided a penalty despite suddenly stepping away.

What about the other two?

Well, over there, they could pin anything on ‘the will of the gods.’

Long live the divine rhetoric. Long live the pope.

But this guy stayed silent for a while.

No way?

With growing anxiety, I waited for the chat.

The other two were probably tense too.

Shin Jae-heon’s reply came much later.

Phew, relief. No idea how he dodged it.

Of course, I couldn’t avoid my own penalty crisis either.

Stealthily sneaking out was one thing, but half the forest was wrecked, so an explanation was inevitable.

Besides, Senia’s personality wasn’t the type to trash a forest in a rage.

“What in the world happened……?”

I had no choice but to spin a tale.

Even with Yian’s healing, my disheveled state made fabricating a story easy.

“There was a strong monster.”

Suddenly appearing uninvited? Epe could pass as a monster in that sense.

“How strong…?”

“I struggled quite a bit.”

“You faced it alone?”

Helen looked ready to unleash a tirade any second.

I quickly added,

“It wasn’t some pushover I could turn tail and flee from, and I couldn’t let it head toward the village.”

Helen’s mouth clamped shut in a firm line.

The content changed, but the penalty crisis lingered.

No, Senia could totally scrap with a random roadside monster!

Of course, as a countess, Senia would’ve first sought a dignified retreat.

But? I couldn’t back off there.

Times like this!

Time to draw on pro S-rank hunter experience.

I opened my mouth.