I Fell Into a Dungeon with Crazy S-Ranks

Chapter 19

 

Slash.

The monster’s neck was severed in one stroke.

Blood splattered on the green grass, and black boots trampled it.

[SYSTEM] Until rank increase (29/100)

Yoo Yi-joo glanced at the floating system window and swung her sword at the monster rushing towards her.

Gwaaaeek!!

An unintelligible roar filled the surroundings. The sharp blade cut down the monsters without a moment’s hesitation.

Being her first time, there was some awkwardness, but each cutting motion was free of unnecessary movement.

[SYSTEM] Until rank increase (34/100)

[SYSTEM] Until rank increase (37/100)

[SYSTEM] Until rank increase (40/100)

In other words, it was only natural that monsters were falling one after another.

Blood sprayed into the air as the blade grazed them.

‘As expected, these are better than the snake.’

Yoo Yi-joo stepped back to avoid the blood and looked up.

A monster resembling a hyena, not a snake, was baring its teeth at her.

Yoo Yi-joo had dealt with these monsters once before.

A predicted quest, an SSS-grade sword with full equipment effects, and an enemy she had already faced.

‘If only all quests were like this.’

She knew that wouldn’t be the case, but this quest was going smoothly enough.

The monsters had come in hordes, but in less than an hour, only one remained – evidence of her success.

The last monster prowled around, wary of Yoo Yi-joo for quite some time.

As Yoo Yi-joo frowned, puzzled by the monster’s reluctance to approach, it suddenly leaped.

It had waited for her guard to lower slightly.

However, Yoo Yi-joo threw her sword without hesitation.

The sword cut through the air like a spear and lodged itself in the throat of the monster as it lunged to devour her.

Kieeek! The monster screamed and roared, but soon collapsed.

[Unique skill ‘Stealth (B)’ has automatically deactivated as its duration has ended.]

The light that had been enveloping her body invisibly disappeared, revealing Yoo Yi-joo under the moonlight.

The wind brushed through her dark hair.

Thinking that she had become accustomed to such fights in many ways, for better or worse, Yoo Yi-joo let out a hollow laugh.

Looking across, she saw the monster that had been struck by her thrown sword writhing on the ground, screaming.

It looked like a desperate struggle to live, but unfortunately, Yoo Yi-joo had no particular inclination to understand it.

‘I’m too busy trying to survive myself.’

Thud!

Yoo Yi-joo thrust the sword in deeply. The monster’s legs, which had been resisting in pain, went limp. With that, Yoo Yi-joo looked up.

Ding!

[SYSTEM] Until rank increase (43/100)

[SYSTEM] Main Quest-7 [Guard the Dawn (2)] completed.

The 7th quest ended more easily than expected.

Since there was no reward, there wasn’t much to check, so Yoo Yi-joo immediately pulled the sword from the monster’s body.

Blood sprayed slightly. Yoo Yi-joo sheathed the sword at her waist without much emotion.

‘Judging by the lack of sounds of anyone looking for me, I guess I wasn’t discovered.’

Thinking she could just go back and lie down in the tent now, she turned around. But then.

“Yoo Yi-joo…?”

A familiar figure filled her vision. The black pupils gradually widened.

Baek Doha, who hadn’t returned since leaving the cave without a word, was looking at her.

💎

I froze, unable to even think about controlling my expression.

‘Why is Baek Doha here?’

No, more importantly…

‘How much did he see?’

The part where my stealth skill wore off? When I stabbed the monster? Or, from the very beginning?

Damn. Any of those would be the worst.

Cold sweat ran down my spine. Meanwhile, Baek Doha’s silence was driving me crazy.

From thinking he might abandon me for being suspicious to wondering if he might just kill me on the spot, all sorts of thoughts raced through my mind before I came to a conclusion. In times like these…

‘Let’s run!’

Without a moment’s hesitation, I turned my back towards the cave.

I chose what seemed best for now, disregarding the consequences.

But there was one thing I had overlooked.

“Wait, why are you running away?”

“Aaah!”

This man was a perfect S-rank in everything except personality.

Just as I was about to reach the cave entrance, my harness strap was grabbed.

Let go, please! I struggled while panting for breath.

Baek Doha, who had easily caught me, frowned without showing any sign of effort.

“I’m not in the mood for games like ‘try to catch me’.”

“Neither am I?!”

Do you think I’d run away at dawn for something like that!

I wanted to argue more, but my throat was too dry to shout. Definitely not because I was tired from running.

‘Just how much did he really see?’

Already caught, I took a moment to catch my breath while holding my forehead. The absolute worst case would be if he saw everything from the beginning.

Feeling Baek Doha’s gaze on me amidst my mix of desperation and anxiety, I slowly turned my head to avoid it. Then he spoke.

“Yi-joo-ssi.”

“……”

Here it comes. As I swallowed hard, Baek Doha opened his mouth.

‘Maybe I should run again—’

“You’ve barely recovered, and you’re out here.”

…Huh?

I opened my eyes wide at the unexpected words. All the complicated thoughts in my head crumbled.

“What’s that blood on your cheek? Are you hurt?”

Unable to hide my bewildered expression, I wiped my cheek with my palm. Blood came off on it.

“Ah, I’m not hurt…”

It seems blood had splattered when I was killing the monsters. I tried to wipe off the remaining blood on my cheek, but it just smeared instead of coming off.

‘What the heck, how much blood got on me?’

As I rubbed so hard in confusion that my cheeks hurt, Baek Doha grabbed my wrist to stop me.

“It’s all cleaned now, so stop.”

It was a firm tone, as if speaking to a 5-year-old child. I looked at the large hand holding my wrist.

Compared to the somewhat rough Cha Si-hyeon or the scarred Im Yoo-chan, his hand was incredibly smooth. But something felt off.

‘Why is his hand so hot?’

As I frowned in puzzlement, I heard a rustling sound nearby.

A chill ran down my spine.

“…Didn’t you just hear something?”

Baek Doha raised an eyebrow at my question.

“If this is another attempt to run away…”

“No, really! I definitely heard a sound just now?”

Just as I was protesting indignantly.

Rustle. A presence was heard from beyond the bushes.

“It’s real.”

This time, Baek Doha also seemed to have heard it, frowning.

See, I told you it wasn’t a lie!

As I glared at him resentfully, I suddenly remembered the fifth quest that had appeared unexpectedly.

‘…No way?’

Is this system trying to mess with me again?

I cautiously moved towards the bushes.

“Where are you going? You don’t know what might come out!”

“Your voice is the loudest right now, Baek Doha-ssi.”

I lightly scolded Baek Doha, who was following behind me.

If it were a monster, wouldn’t it have jumped out already? Still, just in case, I gripped the sword at my waist.

“…Huh?”

But what’s this?

I opened my eyes wide in genuine surprise. What was whimpering between the bushes was…

“It’s that creature that used to bring fruit to Yi-joo-ssi.”

Baek Doha, who had approached without me noticing, said.

Yes, what was in front of my eyes was none other than the wolf I had saved from being chased by a wild boar, the one that had been leaving gifts in front of the cave for a while.

As I blinked in surprise, Baek Doha muttered.

“It came once when Yi-joo-ssi collapsed, but I hadn’t seen it since…”

I had forgotten about this creature while I was unconscious during the sub-quest.

For some reason, I looked at the wolf’s small body and then moved my gaze to its mouth. Blood was dripping from its mouth.

Well, putting aside why it’s here…

“It seems badly hurt.”

“It does. Looks like it fought something.”

Fight? I looked at him as if to say ‘What are you talking about?’, and Baek Doha gestured with his chin beyond the bushes.

There lay the corpse of a spider monster.

While the spider was torn to shreds and barely recognizable, this wolf was relatively intact in comparison.

“Did this little thing win…?”

“It’s a monster too, after all.”

Unlike the nonchalant Baek Doha, I opened my eyes wide in surprise. Baek Doha pointed to the wolf’s forehead as if I hadn’t noticed.

“This pattern here, an ordinary beast wouldn’t have something like this.”

As Baek Doha said, there was an unknown black pattern engraved on the white fur.

‘Well, I kind of guessed it was a monster, but…’

I didn’t know it had such a pattern.

Of course, during our first meeting, I wasn’t in a state to notice such details, and when it brought gifts, it always hid behind trees, so I never had a chance to see it closely.

Anyway, as I looked at the baby monster with mixed feelings, Baek Doha stood up first, dusting himself off.

“It’ll die if we leave it like this, so let’s go.”

“Uh…”

Die? I opened my mouth and then turned to look at the dead monsters in the grass.

Spider monsters. Like other monsters, they had sharp teeth, and it seemed this wolf had been bitten on the leg by those teeth.

The leg was not only swollen red but also bleeding heavily, making me think there might be poison involved.

‘…Shouldn’t we take it with us instead?’

It didn’t sit right with me to just leave like this.

It had been chased by monsters before, and although the snake carcass was horrifying, the gift-giving attempts for my sake were quite cute.

As I hesitated, unable to leave and just shifting my weight,

[SYSTEM] Surprise! ‘Sub Quest-2’ has arrived.

A quest popped up.

[SYSTEM] Sub Quest-2 [Monster Returning the Favor]

▸There’s an injured monster in front of you, surely you’re not going to leave it behind? Let’s take care of the monster for two days. It might repay the favor.

▸Time limit: 48 hours

▸Failure: None

▸Reward: ???

‘Huh…’

A quest popped up as if it knew my dilemma.

💎

Thank you for reading! ♡