Chapter 209

[Vision Impairment: 98%]

Ju Ian bit his lip.

His vision was blurry, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see anything at all.

On the contrary, his other senses had sharpened, keenly surveying the battlefield.

“Hunter So Yeri!”

That was why he noticed it first.

It might have been instinct. Or perhaps a sense honed from traversing battlefields as a healer for so long.

Like how medical staff who worked in hospitals for years often predicted a patient’s abnormality through uncanny premonitions.

But whether he could change that future was another matter entirely.

—Pukeok!

A gruesome sound rang out. The crack of breaking bone, something piercing through.

The sound of a human.

The final sound from what had once been human.

Even pouring healing skills belatedly was useless.

A light went out in one corner of the system window.

“Hunter So Yeri!”

A scream erupted, from whom, he didn’t know.

There was no time for despair. If things continued like this, everyone would die.

“Keep looking ahead!”

He shouted.

His heightened senses detected the two dealers hesitating.

He could barely see anything now.

As his vision blurred and narrowed, the system windows stood out even more clearly.

He simply closed his eyes.

It was something he’d prepared for anyway.

He’d barely been able to see anything since entering.

If it was a future he could avoid, avoiding it would be best, but if not…

He had no intention of choosing late.

He ignored the extraneous system windows.

A massive amount of mana drained from him, more than ever before.

He heard Hunter Shin Jae-heon and Hunter Shin Yuri shouting something.

But Ju Ian didn’t listen. He had no intention of heeding even if they tried to stop him.

He had resolved himself countless times since entering this dungeon.

Even if I lose anything.

Even if I lose you all.

I just want you to get out safely.

[Status Reassessment in Progress…]

The system window flashed.

In the now completely darkened system window, a light flickered back on in one corner.

[Hunter So Yeri – S-Rank (Support)]

And at the same time, a cold verdict fell.

Ju Ian clamped his mouth shut in a straight line.

Even though he could no longer see ahead, he felt immense gratitude in that moment.

It wasn’t the worst-case scenario he’d imagined, so he was relieved.

He could still see the system windows, and healing wasn’t impossible.

No, now he could use healing skills freely.

[Skills]

He opened his skill window entirely and began using healing skills in earnest.

He could see Hunter So Yeri’s status window filling with stamina and mana.

“Huh…?”

Hunter So Yeri’s puzzled voice rang out.

After receiving the Revive skill, buffs piled up in a status cleaner than ever before.

She was probably wearing an incredulous expression.

But she would know what the situation was.

Upon death, inventory empties, and all items except bound and equipped ones shatter.

Since it was a true ‘death judgment’ not permitted by the dungeon, her status would be the same.

“…Hunter Ju Ian?”

Whether due to the Revive skill’s effect, her shields were sturdier than ever.

“What about your eyes?”

A scream-like voice asked.

Ju Ian hesitated for a brief moment.

He thought he’d hidden it, but she’d already known. That’s why she’d been using protection skills so much earlier.

“I’m fine now.”

Ju Ian whispered.

Don’t worry about it anymore.

So Yeri had no response to those words.

She seemed to understand what his paradoxical statement meant.

“Let’s clear it first and talk.”

Ju Ian said something he would never have uttered normally.

Because otherwise, So Yeri wouldn’t snap out of it.

—Then there’ll be time to say goodbye.

He thought.

This is fine. We’ve averted the worst.

I’m okay.

…Probably okay.

Hunter Ju Ian’s healing skills came flooding in explosively.

Just minutes ago, he’d been cautious with his skills, but now it was like a car racing ahead without looking back.

It seemed like it didn’t matter how much he used them now.

…No, that was probably right.

I can’t cry.

I whispered endlessly to myself.

If tears block my vision, I can’t do my job properly.

So stay cold and rational.

Just think it’s all a dream. I’ll wake up once it’s over.

Think of it lightly…

Even trying that, my heart felt like it would tear apart. The surging complex emotions disrupted my focus.

Hunter Ju Ian’s skill effects kept coming.

“No.”

Muttering to myself, I couldn’t stop thrusting my sword.

Because I knew I couldn’t stop.

I knew what he was thinking, what he was trying to protect by doing this.

Hunter So Yeri was using skills again as if she’d never received a death judgment.

After that system window appeared, she really came back to life like a miracle.

I could almost see his expression without looking back. That’s why I didn’t.

Hunter Ju Ian’s Revive skill could only be used once.

Now that he couldn’t use Revive anymore, he absolutely couldn’t die.

No one could die.

Otherwise, what Hunter Ju Ian had staked everything to protect would be lost.

That can’t happen.

But as stamina dropped, the boss monster used another skill.

—Chaeng!

Shin Jae-heon’s thrust sword completely veered off the boss.

The barrier had grown so powerful that proper attacks were now nearly impossible.

Even with constant healing, this would lead to a hopeless conclusion.

We needed another way.

A way to eliminate that bastard’s magnetic field barrier—

“…Ah.”

There was one place without the magnetic field barrier.

I gripped the sword hilt again.

The skills that thing used were predictable anyway. It would use that skill soon.

The skill that sucked everything into this space.

Attacks definitely worked inside it.

So I’d have to stake everything then.