Chapter 45
Just before falling on the stairs.
“Careful.”
Lim Yuchan caught me as I stumbled. At the same time, Cha Si-hyeon thrust his sword at the doll behind my back.
He then swiftly pulled out the sword with a quick motion.
I instinctively turned around and saw something unexpected.
“Cotton?”
Instead of blood, cotton burst out from the gap where the blade had pierced.
As I watched the cotton falling, I heard a small murmur.
“It really is like a doll.”
Indeed. Although we called it a ‘doll,’ I naturally thought blood would flow since it was a monster after all. Before I could think deeper, I hurriedly reached out my hand at the sight of more dolls swarming in.
[Using skill, ‘Boundary Line (C)’.]
A boundary line was instantly erected where I extended my hand. Bang! One of the dolls approaching quickly bounced off the boundary line and tumbled down the stairs.
“What did you do?”
“I put up a barrier that will hold them off for a moment.”
I answered Lee Cheong-sin’s question as I turned around.
“But this barrier won’t last long either.”
Thump! As if on cue, the sound of something hitting the barrier was heard.
“There are many of them, and it seems they’re poisonous. It’s best not to let them touch you if possible.”
And… Just as I was about to open my mouth again, hesitating.
“We’re all here, what are you worried about?”
“Let’s just sweep them away like we’re cleaning up a swarm of flies.”
“Don’t worry.”
Baek Doha, Cha Si-hyeon, and even Lim Yuchan. They all spoke as if to comfort me, who was flustered by the sudden situation. Eventually, Mungchi, who was in my arms, went down to the floor and grew in size.
Mungchi rubbed his face against my body and then stood in front of me.
“See, even he’s saying not to worry.”
Cha Si-hyeon chuckled and followed Mungchi’s lead. And I suddenly grabbed his arm. I reached out to his face as he turned around.
“What are you—”
Whether he flinched or not, I stuck a band-aid on his forehead.
As I was fidgeting, trying to put the band-aid on Cha Si-hyeon’s forehead, he asked in a confused voice. I focused on applying the band-aid, deliberately ignoring it.
His eyes rolled around, unable to find their bearings, but he didn’t actually remove my hand.
Inwardly smiling at his reaction, I finally removed my hand.
“I’m not worried.”
Cha Si-hyeon put his hand where I had removed mine. Then, looking at his hand, he confirmed that nothing had come off his forehead.
“So don’t you get hurt either.”
“…Where did you get the band-aid?”
“There’s all sorts of stuff in this faction space.”
I shrugged and stood next to Mungchi. Then I put my hands on my waist. Looking straight at the cracking boundary line, I said,
“From here, let’s slowly go down.”
[SYSTEM] Warning! ‘Boundary Line’ is breaking!
💎
To be honest, when the quest came from the ‘Dungeon Guide,’ I wasn’t too worried.
After all, two S-rank members were already in the faction space, and we were bringing one more S-rank member.
With these three S-rank members, defeat was unthinkable in most situations.
Of course, I hesitated for a moment at the sheer number of enemies, but seeing the confident S-rank members, I steeled myself to sweep them away…
“Yi-joo-ssi! There are a bunch of clones outside the faction space too, and it feels like their numbers aren’t decreasing at all…!”
Isn’t this too much?
Hearing Gi Dain’s voice informing me of the situation with an anxious expression, I also turned my head.
I let out a hollow laugh at the endless onslaught of clones.
This is too much, even for us.
Had I known it would be like this, I should have brought Lim Yuchan into the faction after the quest had started. That thought crossed my mind just as Du Mansik punched the center of a doll’s stomach. With a powerful blow, the doll flew backward before it could even attack. Despite his large frame, Du Mansik moved with surprising agility.
Surprisingly, Lim Yuchan wasn’t using his fire skills properly, and the reason for that was…
‘The fire could spread to the others nearby and everything could burn down.’
If that happened, the entire dungeon could turn into a fiery inferno, which would be extremely dangerous.
A situation where everyone couldn’t exert their full power as expected. I slashed the side of a doll that approached me.
As I was catching my breath, I heard Cha Si-hyeon’s voice, who had somehow approached me.
“These guys are really ugly.”
“Is that important right now?”
“Well, they are ugly.”
With enough energy to joke around, I let out a short, poisonous chuckle and raised my head.
The dolls had light brown bodies with two buttons attached to their faces.
Rather than ugly, well…
‘They look crude.’
The stitched parts, revealing clumsy handiwork, looked quite amateurish. While I was briefly examining one of the dolls, suddenly—
One of the dolls swung its hand with a needle towards my neck. As I quickly tilted my head back, Cha Si-hyeon, who was next to me, kicked the doll away. While the doll was losing its balance, Cha Si-hyeon immediately grabbed what looked like the doll’s eyes—the buttons—and ripped them off.
I let out a wry laugh at the violent attack. I was about to feel sympathy for the monster.
“Don’t space out.”
Lim Yuchan, who had approached without me noticing, said as he grabbed and threw away a clone that was aiming for my back.
“Keep your focus.”
“Of course.”
Cha Si-hyeon continued, kicking away a doll that was trying to stab Lim Yuchan’s neck with its needle hand.
“As Baek Doha said, these guys’ presence is really weak.”
Lim Yuchan nodded and added.
“Not only is their mana are weak, but there are also so many of them that it’s hard to read each one’s presence.”
In other words…
“We need to take down the boss quickly.”
This is a battle that will only end when we catch the boss.
It’s too late to deal with all these endlessly multiplying dolls before moving on. At this rate, we’ll end up surrounded and trapped by these dolls.
We can’t go on like this.
“Let’s break through here and go straight for the boss.”
Just as I made up my mind and gripped my sword.
“You stay here.”
Cha Si-hyeon stopped me.
“What?”
“It seems like the 2nd ranked faction leader is targeting you. It could be more dangerous if you go outside unnecessarily.”
My mouth closed as I was about to object.
“That’s right. We’ll catch the boss, so you stay here.”
This time, Lim Yuchan chimed in. Before I could say anything more, Lim Yuchan turned to Cha Si-hyeon.
“Let’s break through right away.”
“Of course.”
Cha Si-hyeon chuckled and gripped his sword.
[Using skill, ‘Spear of Hell (S)’.]
[Using skill, ‘Sprint (D)’!]
Black mana bloomed from Cha Si-hyeon’s sword and feet. Using an S-rank skill simultaneously with another skill… It was on a different level compared to me, who couldn’t use other skills due to lack of mana after stealing an S-rank with ‘What’s Yours is Mine’.
And the power of the skills was tremendous. Cha Si-hyeon charged forward, breaking through the dense crowd in less than a minute. As if waiting for this, Lim Yuchan followed him, clearing away any obstacles.
“Really… They’re not S-rank for nothing.”
Admiring the S-rank power I hadn’t seen in a while, I watched Cha Si-hyeon and Lim Yuchan go outside. By the time even their backs disappeared from view, the clones had filled the path they had cleared.
Just as I was raising my sword against the clones that immediately turned to look at me after their two targets disappeared.
“Noona! More are coming from the opposite side!”
I heard Lee Cheong-sin’s shout from the other side where he was fighting.
“…What?”
“Again?!”
Gi Da-in, who was nearby, exclaimed in dismay.
Isn’t this too much?
As I quickly turned to look where Lee Cheong-sin was, I saw that they were now squeezing in not only from the dungeon entrance but also through other doors. …Damn it.
“Da-in-ssi, let’s go over there.”
I gestured with my eyes to Gi Da-in, who was standing a bit away, pointing towards where Lee Cheong-sin was. It’s too much for Lee Cheong-sin to cover all that area alone. Leaving the center of the faction to Baek Do-ha and Du Mansik…
At that moment, I suddenly felt something was off.
“Wait a second.”
“What is it?”
As Gi Da-in asked back, I remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“Over there, wasn’t there supposed to be a passage?”
“…What?”
The space assigned to our faction is shaped like a large hall. Of course, there are windows inside the hall, stairs leading to other floors, and several rooms inside as well.
However, to enter this place, you must climb the stairs, no matter where they are.
“Now that I think about it, there’s no window large enough over there for dolls of that size to come through…”
So unless they can fly, they can’t enter through any place other than the designated entrance.
Gi Da-in, who seemed to have realized something like me, muttered blankly.
“Then, could it be…”
Hah. I let out a hollow laugh.
That side is connected to the passage of the 2nd-rank faction. It means that passage can only be opened if the 2nd-rank faction opens the door for them to cross over to this side. In other words.
“Looks like they’ve just decided to send them out.”
It meant that the 2nd-rank faction had sent us the clones they were supposed to deal with.
💎
Gi Da-in, who had finally made it through the crowd with Yoo Yi-joo and headed toward where Lee Cheong-sin was, turned his head.
“It seems they are indeed coming out from over there.”
Yoo Yi-joo said, looking towards the passage that was barely visible due to the clones blocking the view.
“Let’s clear these clones first and then close the passage.”
Yoo Yi-joo, who made a quick decision, cleanly sliced the neck of the clone at the front with her sword. As Gi Dai-in was startled by how clean it was, Lee Cheong-sin spoke to her.
“Noona, aren’t they really amazing in many ways?”
“…Noona?”
“Ah, I’m twenty-two. I’m probably the youngest. Feel free to speak comfortably to me too, Noona!”
Gi Da-in blinked at Lee Cheong-sin, who approached friendly, saying we should get along since we’re in the same faction anyway. He was quite sociable even in this situation.
“Yeah… but what’s amazing?”
“The 2nd-rank faction, of course.”
“Ah.”
Gi Da-in nodded, finally understanding.
“True… how did they think to send them to us.”
Despite attacking Yoo Yi-joo first, the 2nd-rank faction was utterly shameless. As Gi Da-in was gritting her teeth, Lee Cheong-sin asked as if he didn’t understand.
“That’s only natural. How many non-despicable people do you think are here?”
“…Huh?”
“Their guts are amazing. I wonder what kind of guts they had to send them here.”
“Guts…?”
“There are three S-rank people here, and moreover…”
Lee Cheong-sin, who had been muttering softly, looked at Yoo Yi-joo. There’s no way three S-rank people would continue to stick together just because they were in the same dungeon at the beginning.
‘There must be something.’
Moreover, it couldn’t have been a coincidence that she became the leader of the 1st-rank faction after a near-death experience, and that she safely escaped from the 2nd-rank faction.
[Skill, ‘Lasso (B)’ is used!]
At that moment, there was a swishing sound of something wrapping around.
At that moment, there was a swishing sound of something wrapping around.
“That thing over there, it’s the passage, right?”
Gi Da-in, who belatedly thought he should help Yoo Yi-joo, used her skill to tie up the clones surrounding Yoo Yi-joo.
Seizing the opportunity, Yoo Yi-joo pushed past the tied-up creatures and ran towards the passage entrance. As soon as she arrived at the entrance and lifted her head, Yoo Yi-joo paused.
“…Ha.”
And let out a short breath.
‘They completely removed the door.’
Her gaze fell on the wooden door lying on the floor, broken beyond repair. Should this be called dedication too?
Yoo Yi-joo, who had muttered softly, looked around and then shouted loudly.
“Mungchi!”
Just as her shout was about to be drowned out by the sounds of fighting with the clones, thump! One of the clones in front was crushed by something that fell from above.
On top of the clone that had been flattened without a sound was a large wolf.
Mungchi spat out the clone it had been holding in its mouth. Ignoring whether the clone fell limply to the ground or not, Yu Yi-joo climbed onto Mungchi. Gi Da-in immediately widened her eyes.
“W-where are you going? Weren’t the two S-rank supposed to go for the boss?”
“I know. I’m not going to fight the boss.”
“What?”
Yoo Yi-joo sheathed her sword and straightened her posture.
“Then what are you going for?”
After a moment of silence at Gi Da-in’s question, Yoo Yi-joo smiled faintly.
“To rip off the 2nd-rank faction leader’s crest.”
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
