It was there. That was Yu Yeonha’s talent. It seemed Yu Yeonha had already reached the stage on the eve of Eye Opening.
There would be time for admiration and congratulations later. I looked for my next target. This time, too, it was a Peanut Flame.
However, the battle had already intensified, and the Peanut Flames’ movements had grown more active. Because of that, it wasn’t as easy as when I killed the first one. No—should I say it was easy? Even after firing six shots, I couldn’t pierce its barrier, but the next shot I fired luckily penetrated its mana core and killed it in one hit.
In any case, by the time I had dealt with a total of three Peanut Flames, the battle was already entering its final stage. Even the four Salamanders whose attention Hazuki had drawn were reduced to salamander leather once the whip tied up their tails and the shield, axe, and hammer charged in together.
In truth, that was why Salamanders were only lower-intermediate rank. No matter how powerful their breath was, they couldn’t spit it out if their tails were bound.
“Yoo-hoo. It’s over. I think we caught about six thanks to Yeonha.”
“······That’s a relief. Count them first.”
We gathered near the mana dolls and counted the corpses.
One, two, three······ fifteen in total.
We had cleared out every monster that had been here.
“So now we just walk again?”
Just as Jayden said that with a grin, a light flashed in the distance.
I instinctively looked that way. For an instant, my mind went blank. A Salamander with its mouth wide open was spewing out a stream of fire. Without any warning or sign, a pillar-sized breath melted the ground as it charged toward us.
I felt it by instinct. This would be a direct hit. We couldn’t dodge it. If it hit us, we would die. To avoid dying, we had to block it.
But how?
In that split second, I remembered the mana of my Stigma.
Like the Peanut Flames, if I wove a barrier with water.
Then I might be able to block it well enough.
······My Stigma rose in a blue glow, and pain spread through my biceps. Mana unfolded before me according to my will.
Then, sparks of fire poured down.
Chijijijik—
As fire and water collided, an enormous amount of steam erupted. The hot vapor hung like smoke, blocking the view in every direction. The barrier I had created vanished along with the breath.
For a moment, the entire world fell silent.
Soon, a low voice rang out, speaking for everyone’s feelings.
“······This is no joke.”
It was Jayden. Deep fear had risen on his face. He seemed to be on the verge of panic.
“That thing just now. Would we really have survived even if it hit us directly?”
No. There was no way we would have survived. I couldn’t say anything and let my body sink to the floor. There was no strength in my legs. My entire body was numb. At least this pathetic sight was hidden by the steam.
“Hey. Gunner. That thing’s still alive, but we can’t see a damn thing, you know? I’m so tense I feel like I’m going insane, so tell me where the bastard that shot that is first.”
Jayden said. His voice was trembling with fear. I barely managed to calm my heart. Calm down. It can’t see this place either. Before the fog clears and it attacks, we have to kill it first.
“Look at the trajectory.”
I raised my handgun.
Rather than explaining it a hundred times, showing them directly would be easier.
“I’m shooting.”
I pulled the trigger. The bullet left a blue tail behind as it rushed toward the Salamander. The bullet soon reached the Salamander, but its trace lingered a little longer. The seven team members bombarded the place where the blue line stopped.
As if it had exhausted all its strength with that breath just now, the Salamander died without even a scream.
The sound of its hide being split was unpleasant.
“······What the hell. This looks like blood.”
Jayden muttered blankly. Just as Jayden said, liquid was seeping out of the split flesh. It was red, sticky fresh blood.
“A mana doll has blood? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Then what the fuck is this? My hand’s sticky as hell right now. And what was that attack just now? That was really breath. I’m telling you, it burned my skin even though it didn’t touch me.”
The attack functions of mana dolls were originally degraded by a grade or two compared to the real monsters. In other words, a lower-intermediate monster would be less than lower-rank. That was why, for evaluations, the researchers directly announced a “retire” after comparing the state of injury to real combat standards.
“Calm down for now.”
“Do I look like I can calm—······ Yes. I should.”
Jayden, who had been gradually losing his senses, thankfully came to himself in front of Yu Yeonha.
“I’ve heard this kind of thing can happen. Besides, it’s a Salamander. It evolved from a salamander. This place is an environment optimized for a dungeon, so there’s a good chance it naturally occurred.”
“······.”
Yu Yeonha spoke calmly. Jayden said nothing. He regulated his breathing and calmed his body and mind. Yu Yeonha had always been that kind of person, but Jayden also had a composure unlike an ordinary high school student.
Meanwhile, the steam that had spread in every direction slowly began to settle.
Every cadet was soaked in the water mist.
“Are you okay?”
Yu Yeonha said as she looked at me. Probably because the direction I had been standing in was the direct line of fire.
My Luck was as high as 9.1, but I had no idea why the breath had flown toward me. Was this some ploy telling me to block it and gobble up a load of SP? Or did it fly toward me because no one else could have blocked it? Well, if something had gone wrong and Yu Yeonha had died, that would have been a disaster like no other.
“I’m fine.”
For now, I was fine.
“······Ah, right. Hey. What are you? What the fuck are you?”
But then Jayden came over, making a fuss.
“What do you mean?”
“At the start, I told anyone with the water attribute to come out.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit. Then how did you block that breath just now? Didn’t all this steam come from water evaporating in the fire?”
“A gunner is supposed to carry at least one shield to protect his own body.”
“······What?”
The mana of my Stigma had created a water-attribute barrier through my will. That shield had blocked the Salamander’s attack once, and now I had no mana left.
······Of course, I couldn’t exactly say that.
“This bastard······.”
“Quiet. Let’s just go for now. As for this situation······ we’ll probably be compensated with points.”
Yu Yeonha said as she looked down at the Salamander’s horribly split corpse.
* * *
As they walked onward, Yu Yeonha glanced back.
The dazed man was sweeping back his hair. Sweat fell in heavy drops. If Shin Jonghak did it, it would have looked cool, but when that person did it, it looked a little dirty.
In any case, no matter how much Yu Yeonha thought about it, she couldn’t shake the strange feeling.
What had blocked the breath was clearly water-attribute mana. But could a cadet who was neither Shin Jonghak nor Kim Suho imbue mana with an attribute?
Yu Yeonha suddenly remembered what Chae Nayun had said. That Kim Hajin was hiding his strength.
Of course, Kim Hajin had explained it as if he had possessed a magic armament.
Such armaments, of course, existed. As he said, it was one of the defensive armaments gunners liked to use.
It was called a “Garment,” and while it usually took the form of ordinary clothing such as a coat or shirt, when the gunner was in danger, it released the mana stored inside to defend against a single attack. A useful piece of defensive equipment.
Yu Yeonha briefly grew suspicious.
Could Sebastian have secretly provided him with even that defensive armament without telling her······?
Of course, there was no way.
Although a Salamander was only lower-intermediate rank, an item capable of blocking that breath would easily cost at least forty million won. Strictly speaking, it was not a sum a salaried employee like Sebastian could take responsibility for. Nor was there any reason for him to take responsibility.
Then only two possibilities remained.
Either what Chae Nayun had said, which she had dismissed as nonsense at the time, was actually true, or Kim Hajin, who was originally a coward, had bought it in advance with his own money.
No matter how much Yu Yeonha thought about it, the former seemed more likely. If so, the fact that he had known the Mountain Tyrant’s weak point was also understandable to some degree.
But why was he hiding his strength?
That reason was a mystery.
Just what on earth for······
“They’re here.”
At that moment, Kim Hajin suddenly spoke. Yu Yeonha flinched for no reason, feeling pricked.
“Wh-wh-wh-what is here? There’s nothing.”
“We still have to walk a little farther. But ahead of us, there’s the dungeon’s master, and another team too.”
“I-Is that so?”
“Yeah. Let’s walk a little faster. The situation over there looks a bit serious.”
Kim Hajin took the lead and began walking.
Still harboring her suspicions, Yu Yeonha followed him for the time being.
────────────────────────────────────
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Dungeon Strategy Experience (4)
[15:29:07]
Chae Nayun’s team was holding its breath. There was no other way. At a suitable distance from the Magma Rock Monster, they could only wait silently for another team without making a sound. If possible, they wanted to retreat far away, but if they did, they wouldn’t be able to see another team arrive.
Just as they were being careful even with the sound of their breathing.
“Guaaaaaak!”
A violent scream suddenly burst out. For some reason, Sven had gone into a seizure. The team members looked toward Sven in shock, then turned their heads toward the Magma Rock Monster in fear. As they had feared, the Magma Rock Monster was looking at them. The faces of the seven team members turned purple.
—Grrrrrr!
A monstrous roar, as if it were spitting earthquakes from its mouth. The Magma Rock Monster drove its fist into the ground. Bubbling magma flowed down its body and into the underground. Chae Nayun slung Sven onto her back and shouted loudly.
“Dodge!”
Immediately afterward, magma erupted from the spot where they had been standing just moments ago. It was one of the Magma Rock Monster’s patterns. After sending magma underground, it launched a surprise attack by exploding a pillar of fire.
The cadets scattered in time, but the Magma Rock Monster’s fierce assault did not end there.
The part of its face presumed to be its “mouth” opened wide. From it, a torrent of magma surged out like a tidal wave. Riding the torrent it had created, it charged quickly toward the cadets.
—Gruoooooo!
At that terrifying sight of it sliding forward while spewing grotesque sounds, the team members fled in utter panic.
The Magma Rock Monster’s first target was Chae Nayun, whose movements had become sluggish because she was carrying Sven on her back.
The Magma Rock Monster rushed in instantly and swung its fists wildly. It uppercut, brought its two hands together and slammed them down, swung its long arms······ Chae Nayun was busy dodging. In the middle of that, Sven, who was on her back, began muttering something strange. It seemed to be German, and she couldn’t understand it at all.
“Hey! Stop fucking around and wake up!”
The moment she shouted that, a pillar of fire rose from where Chae Nayun had been standing. Chae Nayun stepped back. But that was not the only pillar of fire. Magma was exploding all around her.
After sealing Chae Nayun’s movements with the pillars of fire, the Magma Rock Monster raised both arms high.
At that moment, she sensed death. This rock monster is going to kill me. There is no way this frenzied being standing before my eyes is just a doll······.
As if her mind had frozen, no other thoughts came to her. She did not close her eyes and stared straight at the two fists descending toward her.
Bang!
Just as the torrent of magma was about to swallow Chae Nayun, the Magma Rock Monster’s head snapped forward. It did not move, both arms still raised high. Its expression burned with fury, but its body did not move. As if its entire body had stiffened from a sudden blow.
Chae Nayun looked toward the place from which the mysterious force that had stopped the Magma Rock Monster had flown.
There stood a man holding a handgun.
* * *
[15:30:30]
“What is this?”
We stopped in front of a massive wall.
A partition wall of igneous rock that easily looked over ten meters tall. This wall blocking the alley leading to the boss field had definitely not been there until just a moment ago. Whose doing it was wasn’t the important issue right now.
“Hey, gunner. You said they were ahead. This is a dead end.”
“They should be beyond this. Try breaking it once.”
“······Now he thinks he’s the boss.”
Jayden grumbled, but still drew his sword. Mana gathered in the blade, and a straight slash was swung.
Pang!
However, there was no change in the wall, and only Jayden’s sword and arm trembled.
“Aaagh! Like that would work, damn it!”
Judging by how much it hurt, Jaden went berserk, hopping up and down. I thought quietly to myself. If even Jaden’s sword aura couldn’t pierce it, that meant this partition had also been treated with magic. In that case, Yu Yeonha probably wouldn’t be able to break through it either.
“Are you sure this is the right way? There was a fork in the middle.”
Yu Yeonha, who had been touching various parts of the wall, asked suspiciously.
“This is the right place.”
No matter what anyone said, I could see Chae Nayun and her team fighting the magma monster beyond this wall.
I examined the wall blocking the passage in detail. As I gradually raised my head, I noticed a whitish light leaking out from the very top.
“……Up there.”
“What?”
The other team members’ heads tilted upward like mine.
“There’s a gap.”
Was it a ventilation shaft, or a trace of carelessness? Whatever it was, it was clearly a massive blunder.
“No. How are we supposed to get up there?”
“You can’t?”
I asked back purely out of curiosity. The average standing vertical jump of warrior cadets was four meters. If they added magic power on top of that, they could probably manage more than twice that. This obstacle was a little high, but that meant it wasn’t something impossible for them to climb.
“Hah. Can you do it? Blades don’t even work on it, so there’s nowhere to make a scratch.”
“……”
Jaden gave up after jumping to conclusions, but I could probably do it. As Jaden said, there were no gaps. However, since it was igneous rock, the surface itself was uneven to begin with. With my ‘Dexterity,’ it should be more than enough to grab onto and climb.
I hadn’t expected the day would come so soon when I’d get to use parkour.
“I’ll go first, so follow me on your own.”
“Don’t joke around. Let’s go around to the side first.”
Yu Yeonha said that and turned around. But I lightly jumped up. I grabbed the most angular part of the rock surface I could find and braced my legs against the wall. I stretched my arm out toward the next point. My hands and feet clung to the wall like magnets.
Like that, I used my hands and feet to step on and grip the wall, and in the blink of an eye, I reached the destination. From up there, I glanced down below. For a moment, my mind went blank. It was absurdly higher than I’d expected.
“What the hell is he? A cat?”
Jaden muttered, dumbfounded. The shocked expressions on the other team members’ faces were quite a sight too.
But I didn’t have the leisure to calmly appreciate them.
Grrroooooo—
A bizarre low sound that sent chills down my spine just by hearing it approached from beyond the wall.
“W-What is that!”
“You guys climb up too. I’m going down first!”
I slipped my body through the ventilation shaft and used parkour again to descend.
When I landed on the ground, they finally appeared. Chae Nayun and her team members, chased by the magma monster.
Even with the naked eye, I could tell that monster wasn’t a doll. Every time it moved, the entire field melted down, so what doll?
I dashed toward them while activating Stigma’s subspace. The magic formula that had formed on my biceps unraveled, and a fluid mass of magic power gathered in my hand. It soon condensed into the form of a handgun and bullets.
I loaded one of the bullets I had prepared in advance. This was a water-attribute magic bullet. A bullet I had made for emergencies. The investment cost was only 30 SP, not much, but with a bit of luck acting strongly, it should be able to show enough destructive power.
“Hah.”
I ran into range and stopped. My breathing rose urgently. But Chae Nayun was surrounded by the Magma Rock Monster, so there was no time to rest. I immediately aimed at the back of the monster’s head and fired.
Bang!
The impact point was precisely the back of its head. The Magma Rock Monster’s head jerked forward sharply. Afterward, the water-attribute bullet reacted with its magma and hardened the area from the back of its head to its shoulders. It was what you’d call a ‘stiffened state.’
I looked past the Magma Rock Monster.
Sven was on Chae Nayun’s back. Chae Nayun, who had narrowly escaped death, seemed to be in a momentary panic, and judging by Sven’s condition, there was a high probability he had already been overtaken by a Djinn.
I shouted at Chae Nayun.
“Hey! Snap out of it!”
“……H-Huh?”
Fortunately, Chae Nayun quickly came to her senses.
“First, put the guy on your back down.”
“What? Where did the others go, and why are you the only one……”
“I said put him down first!”
For now, Chae Nayun did as I said and put Sven down.
“Happy?”
“…Yeah.”
It seemed like an urgent situation, so I had charged in without thinking about what came before or after, but cold sweat gathered on my back. Just then, the Magma Rock Monster trembled. It was trying to expel the bullet. That also meant the stiffened state would soon be released. I signaled to Chae Nayun.
“What are you doing? Hurry……”
Save me.
“Battle formation!”
Before I could finish speaking, Chae Nayun shouted. At the same time, a spear flew in from somewhere and pierced the Magma Rock Monster’s neck. Then the other team members came running. I hurriedly turned around and fled behind Chae Nayun’s team.
“Hold it off for a moment!”
Chae Nayun shouted as she drew back her empty bowstring. Soon, magic power began to gather on her bow. It was a magic arrow far more special than before. Just then, the Djinn