Chapter 19

“Got it!”

At least it seemed I could still use Afterimage on the sword. Gritting my teeth, I maneuvered the afterimage.

A translucent sword shape overlapped onto Shin Jae-heon’s Maletia’s Sword.

It looked exactly like Shin Jae-heon’s sword but somewhat blurry—truly an afterimage.

And it was my weapon, one I could control at will.

I immediately thrust my hand forward.

Now that the afterimage was active, carving up this wild boar was just a matter of time.

Really, just a matter of time—before my mana ran out.

“It’s definitely getting easier!”

So Yeri the Hunter reduced her barrier spells to two and cast other support skills.

An icy surface spread out beneath the wild boar’s charging feet toward Shin Jae-heon.

Of course, sharp Steel Thorns sprouted up in between.

—Grrr!

As the boar’s speed slowed, Shin Jae-heon’s sword shifted from defense to offense.

“Then, excuse me!”

—Whoosh!

While Shin Jae-heon properly clashed with the boar, So Yeri Hunter lifted me and Yian up into the air.

She came with us, of course.

—Crunch!

A sound like cracking bricks echoed from the boar as it took the full hit.

It was a solid strike.

—Grrr…!

But the boar merely staggered before lowering its body toward Shin Jae-heon again.

“That thing isn’t even fazed?”

Even with its ugly looks, it was definitely an SS-rank monster or higher.

Shin Jae-heon thrust at the boar once more and shouted.

“It won’t end until I chop it to pieces!”

Normally, I’d be the one piling on damage from the side in situations like this. But right now, I wasn’t S-rank.

—Crackle!

So Yeri Hunter’s support spell spread out in front of the boar again.

The boar, about to charge at Shin Jae-heon, hesitated.

And then.

“Oh, fuck.”

With So Yeri Hunter’s beautiful voice came the boar closing in instantly.

The boar had leaped toward us.

It was too late to fly up now. I gritted my teeth.

Hunter Yian had said he could revive once with his resurrection skill, so as long as he survived, it was fine.

I’d die on a graze anyway, so there was no time to hesitate.

“Get out of the way!”

I shoved Yian, who was floating beside me.

With his sturdy stamina and as a healer-type S-rank hunter, pushing him wouldn’t dislocate my arm.

No—even if my wrist snapped, it didn’t matter.

I had to get Hunter Yian away from this boar before I died.

The afterimage of my Maletia’s Sword pierced the boar.

—Stab!

“!”

And with Yian’s shocked face as the last thing in my view, the light faded from my sight.

No—right as I thought it had faded.

—Crunch!

To be precise, a shadow larger than me blocked the sunlight.

I widened my eyes at the unfamiliar sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking.

There was no pain. It wasn’t… mine.

“Hah!”

With a familiar grunt, a black shadow blocked the boar.

The greatsword in his hand had shrunk to dagger size, piercing into the boar’s mouth.

And his arm was halfway inside the boar’s jaws.

The afterimage of my Maletia’s Sword, touching his sword, dispersed.

“Shin Jae-heon!”

I grabbed hold of him in shock.

—Squeeeal!

The boar, damaged in its vitals, turned to black dust and scattered.

A monster defeat system window popped up before my eyes, but I had no time for that.

He fell limply to the ground.

“Hunter Shin Jae-heon!”

So Yeri Hunter’s magic caught him immediately.

Beneath that, a massive bed popped out from Hunter Yian’s dungeon inventory.

It was the bed he used for emergency patients.

As soon as Shin Jae-heon was laid on the bed, So Yeri Hunter lowered us to the ground.

I rushed straight to Shin Jae-heon.

“Shin Jae-heon!”

He still seemed conscious.

As Hunter Yian used diagnostic and healing skills, our eyes met.

“Get it together? You know injuries from RP Dungeons carry over outside too, right?”

He was clearly insane, properly so.

His right arm gripping Maletia’s Sword was already half-shredded by the boar’s teeth.

Plus, whatever acidic saliva was in that boar’s mouth had charred his fingertips pitch black.

If Hunter Yian’s diagnostic skill returned an ‘untreatable’ verdict, he’d have to live like that.

In other words, he’d staked his entire hunter career on that arm.

Without a second thought.

At my words, Shin Jae-heon stopped smiling and furrowed his brow.

The pain must have been intense.

“Dying here ends it all anyway.”

“You…”

He knew Yian had a resurrection skill.

Even if I died, he could revive me once.

That’s why I’d shoved Yian aside.

If it was lethal damage, it’d hurt unimaginably, but better than someone dying for good.

But this guy thought differently, apparently.

“Can you heal it?”

Shin Jae-heon asked Yian.

Yian was still focused on the diagnostic skill.

“What if not?”

I glanced at his right arm.

The arm soaking half the bed in blood was already barely recognizable.

The boar’s acid was still eating away at his hand even now.

“I can use my left hand too.”

Shin Jae-heon replied simply.

Like that solved everything!

I couldn’t even hit the patient, so I just clenched my fist tight.

“Fortunately, it looks treatable.”

Then Yian withdrew the diagnostic skill and spoke. I let out a sigh of relief without realizing.

Yian placed his fingertips on Shin Jae-heon’s arm.

I could see his healing skills pouring in.

“Hunter Shin Jae-heon, you’re not even a tank—charging like that could get you smashed.”

So Yeri Hunter added gravely.

The smile gone from her face meant even she, with emotion-related skills, saw his condition as serious.

“As long as I didn’t get smashed, it’s fine.”

Shin Jae-heon shrugged, then winced again.

Even with Yian’s ‘pain reduction’ skill, it hurt bad.

Good grief, this reckless idiot.

But seeing him mouth off eased the tension in my shoulders.

When he’d plummeted limply earlier, my heart had stopped.

Still, I had to say it.

“Thanks.”

If not for Shin Jae-heon, I’d have tasted death’s agony.

Shin Jae-heon turned to me. Seeing his dopey grin made my temperature rise.

“But don’t ever do this again.”

Resurrection skills reset cleanly from death.

Regenerating an arm corroded by poison was harder.

Especially fully restoring an S-rank hunter’s abilities—impossible without Yian.

“Why?”

Shin Jae-heon asked abruptly. As he turned back, his pitch-black eyes fixed on me.

From that gaze, I read his mind.

If the same situation arose again, he’d make the same choice without hesitation.

“What, just let you die?”

He asked again. Technically, that was the right answer.

But not something to say to your savior.

“That’s not it.”

Even then, Shin Jae-heon looked up at me with those dark eyes, waiting for a reply.

I flicked his forehead.

“Ow.”

Enduring the sensation of my finger about to break, I gave a rough answer.

“Next time, end it in one hit instead. Then no one gets hurt.”

At my words, Shin Jae-heon raised an eyebrow.

Then, looking at his somewhat recovered arm, he replied.

“Guess I should.”

Then Yian spoke to him.

“Don’t overdo it for a while. Daily life might be okay, but no gripping swords.”

Even his skill hadn’t fully healed it.

The injury was severe, after all.

“How long?”

“About two weeks?”

At Yian’s words, Shin Jae-heon narrowed his brow.

“Ten days.”

“No. Minimum thirteen days.”

“Eleven days.”

It was haggling worse than at a market stall.

Suddenly, a booming voice echoed from afar.

“Shin Seong Ye Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The two men in their dumb conversation, So Yeri Hunter, and I all turned toward the opposite side of the forest.

What the hell was this out-of-nowhere situation?