Chapter 27
I waited for the bats to approach, gathered power in my fingertips, and clapped as hard as I could. A moment later, the bats hovering in the air burst with blood from their entire bodies and fluttered down.
"Haa."
As I let out a small sigh, blood also gushed from my nose.
Because I had used my ability beyond the range that protected my body, I was also affected by my own power. I had expected there would be side effects, but the potency was stronger than I thought.
'...I'm pretty strong, aren't I?'
While I was admiring myself and wiping my nosebleed, Baek Hamin, who had run over in surprise, held out a pile of herbs. I took the herbs and chewed them, then pushed Baek Hamin back who was standing near the twitching bat corpse.
"I told you not to come forward."
"Yees..."
Baek Hamin answered sullenly, watching my mood. After confirming my nosebleed had stopped, I sent Baek Hamin back to his spot. Baek Hamin, who was resisting and refusing to go, offered both hands full of herbs.
"It's fine. Now go back to your spot. Don't step out of it no matter what."
"Yes..."
When Baek Hamin sullenly returned to his spot, Baek Eunseong's golem began to rise with a clattering sound.
Meanwhile, I looked down at my hand and repeated clenching and unclenching it. My eyes couldn't focus properly. It seemed like I could attack one more time, but the shock to my eyes would be quite significant.
Just as I was about to step forward with the mindset that I should at least try attacking, the rock golem scooped me up and pushed me to the back.
There, the herbs that Baek Hamin had grown were piled high.
"What is this?"
I twisted my body to escape the golem, but honestly, my vision had been swimming and my knees were wobbling so I couldn't even stand properly.
Seeing me like that, Baek Eunseong shook his head slightly and lowered the fingers controlling the golem. It followed the command so faithfully that instead of just putting me down, it pressed me face-down on the ground and held me down so I couldn't get up.
I glared at Baek Eunseong, but eventually stuffed the herbs into my mouth and lay flat on the ground. Fine, let them try doing it by themselves without me. Thinking sullenly was my last memory.
Then a moment later.
"...So that's why you shouldn't attack."
"What about the tail?"
"We need to check first whether it's toxic or not."
At the sound of them conversing softly, I jumped up in surprise.
...I was definitely going to watch how the two of them would fight, but when did I fall asleep?
"Are you alright?"
"Uh, yeah..."
I answered vaguely and swept my face to check if there were any signs of drool or having fallen asleep. Then, as soon as I confirmed my swimming vision had recovered, I rummaged through the bat corpses scattered on the ground.
The two had handled it so cleanly that even after searching through quite a lot of corpses, there wasn't a single bat left breathing.
I wonder how many there were. As I endlessly flipped the corpses from left to right looking for bats with claws, I let out a small exclamation.
"Oh."
I really should buy a lottery ticket.
After detaching the bat's claw with a knife, I put one in the bundle made from 'Ariadne's Thread' and waited for the gate to appear.
However, at that moment, an unbearable stench spread.
I covered my mouth with my cloak and checked Baek Hamin's condition first. Baek Eunseong was holding Baek Hamin's body and covering the child's mouth.
I waved my hand in the air and used 'Splash Splash', but perhaps because there was no proper medium for the skill to apply to, the effect was minimal.
'It's not poison, so what is it?'
As I looked around, Asil, who had been carefully keeping the claw, suddenly popped up.
"Where? Over there?"
The place Asil pointed to was where goblins, slimes, and bat corpses were piled up in layers.
"Why there?"
Asil gestured as if telling me to follow, then mimed brushing away the corpses. When I did the same, the goblin's corpse that had been fine until I was looking for claws was turning into white bones in real-time.
After confirming the sight of the skin melting and turning into poison, I covered my mouth and nose and shouted backward.
"It's a skeleton!"
At the same time as my shout, a skeleton's head rolled down to the ground.
"Waaah!"
Baek Hamin rushed at me with a short scream. I pulled the hood of Baek Hamin who had buried himself in my arms down over his face and used 'Splash Splash'. Every time the skull made a crunching, cracking sound, Baek Hamin screamed in my arms.
"Baek Eunseong!"
After confirming the golems rolling forward, I made eye contact with Baek Hamin.
"Baek Hamin, can you grow plants? Can you do it? Tell me quickly."
"I, I c-can... I'll try..."
When I put Baek Hamin, who was nodding with a tearful face, down on the ground, clover grew from the ground and formed a round circle. Next, ivy filled the inside of the green boundary line.
While the leaves larger than my body were busily purifying the poison, the goblin's skeleton was making strange clacking sounds as it searched for its body and head.
As a result, the ground started shaking wildly, and unlike Baek Eunseong and Baek Hamin who were standing stably as if their feet were planted in the ground, my body started swaying.
A pillar that Baek Eunseong created rose up as if telling me to grab it, but I ignored it and instead balanced myself on the shaking ground with the reflexes worthy of an S-rank hunter.
By the time the shaking subsided, Baek Hamin, who had been focusing on growing ivy, approached hesitantly.
"Uncle..."
When I grabbed the shoulders of Baek Hamin who was trying to cling to my legs and stopped him, his big eyes started welling up with tears again.
Since I'm teaching him anyway, I should teach him properly. I put on a stern expression, but Baek Hamin shrewdly noticed that my anger had subsided and pressed his body against me.
"Heeing."
"Stop whining."
I looked at Baek Hamin who was making a crying face with his chin jutted out, then crouched down to match his eye level. And I pointed at the skeleton rolling away while making clacking sounds beside us.
"Try attacking that."
"Hm?"
Baek Hamin, who had been watching my mood and speaking formally until just now, answered informally again and looked at me.
I grabbed Baek Hamin's head and turned it toward the skeleton, then pointed at the magic stone, the root of the magic beast, glowing red at the position where the skeleton's heart should be.
"See it? You can destroy it with your power."
"Yeah!"
As if he had never been hesitating and watching my mood, Baek Hamin nodded vigorously with his jaw clenched.
Blade-shaped leaves that shot out from the vines Baek Hamin was controlling struck down the skeleton's head. It was good that he destroyed it without hesitation, but unlike normal magic beasts, skeletons were fine even without heads. The skeleton with only its body left was still rolling away with clacking sounds.
"Gasp!"
Startled by the sight, Baek Hamin stepped back and looked at me and Baek Eunseong standing behind him before summoning the vines again. The mass of vines that tangled with each other to form a human shape punched toward the skeleton and shattered its core.
"Uncle, did Hamin do well?"
I looked down at Baek Hamin who was drawing out the end of his words and twisting his body. Considering Baek Hamin's age, it was surprisingly clean skill.
However, both the way Baek Hamin controlled the vines and the way he dealt with magic beasts were all copied exactly from Baek Eunseong. Since that was all he had seen growing up, it couldn't be helped, but if it wasn't corrected from now on, it would become a habit.
And that habit would become the label of 'the second Baek Eunseong' and follow Baek Hamin for the rest of his life.
For reference, Seong Dohyeon didn't have such 'habits'. Originally, since he didn't belong to any group, he absorbed various things on his own and discarded them on his own if he didn't like them.
I looked at the cold sweat forming on Baek Hamin's forehead and snapped my fingers with a crisp sound. Baek Hamin, who was watching the skeleton crumble with a clattering sound, pouted at me.
"I was playing with it nicely..."
"Magic beasts are not for playing."
I turned Baek Hamin, who was whining with a pouty expression, around and rolled up my pants to check the curse.
Let's see... The curse is fine. Condition is fine. No injuries.
Since he's experienced a dungeon once, he'll naturally learn how to protect his body. Even if he doesn't know, Baek Eunseong will teach him. Now I'm done with business at the Baekwoo Dungeon, and I'll be busy making money from now on.
'I can consider myself done with being entangled with Baek Hamin now.'
As I stood up while pressing my knee, Baek Hamin rushed over and clung to me with an anxious face.
"Uncle, why..."
"Let's talk outside, keep your mouth shut for now."
"Then carry me."
The powder from the skeleton was flying in the wind blowing as the gate was generated. I covered Baek Hamin's face with my cloak as he nestled into my arms and was about to follow Baek Eunseong who went out first, but I barely stopped myself before my forehead hit Baek Eunseong's back as he suddenly stopped.
"Move from the entrance."
It was the moment I came out of the dungeon after avoiding Baek Eunseong who was standing awkwardly in the gate.
[Ranking has been updated.]
I also stopped walking at the status window that suddenly appeared before my eyes.
Huh? Ranking updated? What's happening suddenly? Unless there's a dramatic change, there's no reason to notify until the ranking battle opens, so this was unusual.
Looking at the blinking status window as if urging me to see the next text quickly, I turned my gaze to Baek Eunseong who was completely frozen. Baek Eunseong was also staring blankly into space, perhaps having confirmed the same thing as me.
Baek Hamin was still too young to see the status window, so he only looked back and forth between us two with a puzzled expression.
I swallowed dryly and tapped the status window.
[8th: Baek Eunseong
:
:
19th: Seong Dohyeon]
Wait a moment, that guy's ranking is single digits but why am I double digits?