523

 [Chapter 143]

[Unexplored Area (3)]

It's a beehive made of rock.

No, it's a fortress that looks like a beehive.

Wasp-type monsters were occasionally roaming around the fortress.

They were the ones standing guard.

"Huff..."

Without letting them notice,

Even if it takes a long time,

Eunha's party moved closer to the fortress, carefully avoiding the eyes of the monsters on guard.

Then they reached a limit.

At a distance not far from the entrance leading to the interior of the fortress,

A situation arose where they could no longer avoid the eyes of the guarding monsters.

Buzz

Their number was about 6.

The party had to make a decision.

They had to kill them before other monsters noticed.

So, Hosimiya Kaede watched for when the monsters' vigilance wavered while keeping an eye out for any other monsters in the area.

[Mama whale! Turu tutu tururu~]

Ariel lured the guarding monsters.

A few of them showed a reaction.

They moved towards the rock where Ariel was hiding as if enchanted by something.

But not all of the guarding monsters moved.

""""...."""

The monster flying at the highest position showed no reaction.

There was a slight reaction.

Its gaze turned towards the rock where Ariel was hiding.

But its state clearly couldn't be said to have fallen under her magic.

"Sigh..."

A monster with a clearly different form from the guarding monsters.

Probably a monster acting as a gatekeeper.

Nevertheless, the party didn't panic.

No, Bong Gu-rae maintained his composure.

"Huff... haa..."

He inhales and exhales.

By consciously breathing, he keeps his mind from wandering.

Click

He loads a bullet.

Pulls back the bolt.

Aims at the creature through the scope.

Now he waits for the moment.

Buzz

10 seconds until the wasp-type monsters reach the rock where Ariel is.

The moment his party members take care of them, he too will take down that annoying one high in the sky.

...4, 3, 2, 1.

He counted down the remaining time in his mind.

When the number he was reciting in his mind reached 0,

The students hiding with Ariel, including Jin Pa-rang, immediately sprang out─

──!

Bong Gu-rae pulled the trigger.

He realized it the moment he pulled it.

Though to his eyes the bullet leaving the muzzle hadn't reached the creature yet,

He could instinctively tell.

This one hit.

─Slap

Sure enough,

The creature that had been distracted for a moment couldn't block the bullet aimed at its brow at all.

It fell to the ground.

Buzz...

Yet it was still alive.

Whether because its armor was thick,

Or because it had fast regeneration,

The small hole carved in its brow quickly healed.

As it regained consciousness and tried to frantically escape to the fortress,

─Slap

The creature that had been flying unsteadily fell to the ground again.

It convulsed.

Bong Gu-rae snorted at the fallen creature.

"─How does it feel to have your soul pierced?"

Gift <Double Penetration>.

A gift that penetrates the target with one's mana, temporarily disrupting the target's mana circuits.

He, who had become aware of his gift thanks to Eunha, approached the creature that had been hit by his first bullet and received damage to its mana circuits rather than its body.

"Ah, my pride is hurt."

It did hit properly.

But I couldn't pierce through in one shot.

Bong Gu-rae aimed his muzzle at the eyes of the creature trembling on the ground, as if venting his frustration.

"─What kind of embarrassment is this in front of Eunha because of you? You need a hole in your head."

Just calmly,

He fired the newly loaded bullet.

The creature, unable to move its body, had to be shot until its breath was cut off.

☆

Go ahead with Seo-na.

I'm entrusting the remaining kids to you.

Just before going to rescue Yoon I-byeol,

That's what Mok Min-ho said.

Are you out of your mind?

Why are you going there!

She understood his feelings.

He, with his strong sense of responsibility, wouldn't want to run away as a party leader, abandoning the students captured by monsters.

But even so,

Cha Eun-woo wished he had distinguished between when he should take responsibility and when he shouldn't.

Touch of Gentle Breeze

She, who couldn't stop him then,

Felt like her heart was being torn apart.

Though she understood his feelings rationally, when he actually jumped towards the monsters, her heart sank.

"─Will you stop interfering?"

She was angry.

Her heart was boiling with rage.

Cha Eun-woo recalled those emotions and made a gesture of clenching her fist in the air.

The gentle breeze she had just raised changed direction and rushed towards the monsters.

It was no longer a gentle breeze.

Touch of Violent Wind

She unravels the spell formula.

Reconstructs the spell formula.

The magic that protects oneself is, in other words, magic that confines oneself in place.

The wind that had been protecting her now formed a barrier preventing the monsters from escaping.

Clap

Then she brought her widely spread arms together in a clap.

The barrier surrounding the monsters gradually shrank.

Of course, they couldn't move properly.

They became cramped together inside the hemispherical barrier─

─Blood Claw

Jin Pa-rang, who had killed a monster and rushed over, delivered the finishing blow.

"Hey, aren't you overdoing it?"

"I'm not overdoing it. I'm fine."

"If you say you're not overdoing it, well. But you've been using magic recklessly, won't you get tired later?" "...Thanks for worrying. I'll pay attention to mana distribution from now on."

The surrounding area was mostly cleared.

Cha Eun-woo answered Jin Pa-rang's concern and followed the party members going ahead.

How annoying...

Do you only care about others?

Don't you care about your own body?

Cha Eun-woo bit her lip.

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became.

Mok Min-ho had always prioritized taking care of others over his own body.

Until now, she had thought her childhood friend's behavior was just like him.

But it went too far.

You should take care of yourself before worrying about others!

Saving people is natural.

But she thought one shouldn't sacrifice their own life to save others.

It's putting the cart before the horse.

Are other people's lives noble while one's own life isn't?

You should know how to take care of yourself first.

How can you take care of others first?

When Mok Min-ho went to rescue the people captured by monsters,

At that moment, Cha Eun-woo realized clearly.

The weight of lives differs for each person.

Oneself is the most important.

Next are the people close to oneself.

Next are strangers.

Absolutely, in any situation─

─I come first.

It might be selfish.

It might be an obvious thought.

But the realization she gained led to a different interpretation of magic.

Touch of Violent Wind

Cha Eun-woo had shown talent in protective magic and buff magic.

That was her talent,

And it was also because her magic stemmed from a heart that cared for others.

But as she came to prioritize herself over others,

In other words, by flipping her values,

She twisted the spell formula of protective magic to create imprisonment magic, and flipped buff magic to create debuff magic.

"─Be careful! A big one is coming!"

"It's okay. I'll handle it."

Perhaps having heard the commotion earlier,

Monsters appeared again.

There seemed to be some individuals of higher rank than the monsters they had faced earlier.

Such creatures were compressing mana in their pincer-like mouths.

Magic that looked dangerous at a glance.

The students at the vanguard tried to turn and avoid the attack.

But Cha Eun-woo took a step forward.

Another step, and another.

Flash!!

A flash of light rushed towards her.

The students shouted at her.

But Cha Eun-woo ignored them and struck her staff on the ground.

The staff jingled.

─Copycat's Mirror

Gift <Resonance >.

The power to make one's internal mana resonate with the opponent's mana.

She applied the power of her gift to create magic with a similar wavelength to the oncoming magic.

Thus, two perfectly identical magics cancel each other out.

"─I'm really going to..."

She swore she would smack Mok Min-ho's back.

Cha Eun-woo grumbled.

☆

Cha Eun-woo had awakened.

Eunha was surprised when she created magic that canceled out the opponent's magic by applying her gift.

In the previous regression, she would have created it after graduating from the Academy...

Her growth is fast.

Did she gain some kind of realization?

Cha Eun-woo looking somewhat refreshed.

At the same time, Cha Eun-woo occasionally showing a face like an evil demon.

Yeah, let's leave her be.

Eunha decided.

That he shouldn't touch Cha Eun-woo.

In the end, after lightly praising her, he looked around the interior of the fortress.

"..."

The path is narrow, with many terrain features.

It was an inconvenient path to move through.

Thanks to that, Eunha's party had been having difficulty dealing with monsters for a while now.

On the other hand, it didn't matter at all to the monsters freely flying through the air.

"Noh Eunha. It seems there are no more monsters around now."

"Really?"

Where should we go now.

While Eunha was examining the path,

Kaede, who had gone to scout the nearby area separately from Ariel and the party, approached.

"I saw those guys carrying monsters in that direction earlier, let's go that way."

"That makes sense."

After hearing from her that there was no possibility of ambush or surprise attack,

Eunha decided to move again.

Soon he entered the path where the wasp-type monsters carrying other monsters had been coming and going.

""""...."""

The party entered a huge room.

A vast space.

Small rooms were tightly packed on every wall of that space.

And inside the rooms, transparent jelly was emitting a crimson light.

"What... is this..."

There were monsters inside the jelly.

People could be seen among the monsters too.

The students' faces turned pale at the sight.

But they had to quickly come to their senses.

Screech!

A monster roaming the space rushed at them.

The students who snapped back to their senses quickly countered the creatures.

Slash

Because there were still some that hadn't discovered them,

Eunha's party dealt with the monsters as quietly as possible.

They quickly cleaned up the scene and hid their bodies behind the terrain features.

Then they checked the people trapped in the jelly again.

They built quite a large food storage...

If they built a fortress of this scale, just how dangerous is this thing?

This is no joke.

He had thought about it briefly when monsters were rarely seen on the 4th and 5th underground floors, but.

Eunha couldn't help but be horrified.

4th tier... This much is definitely 4th tier.

To think such a thing is in the dungeon now...

Just what kind of creature is it?

At the same time, Eunha clicked his tongue briefly.

A monster with this much danger was certainly worthy of being called 4th tier.

Eunha tried to identify the identity of the boss monster using the memories he knew.

...I can't be certain yet.

Two types of monsters came to mind.

One was a violent creature that enjoyed capturing prey and feasting on them like this.

One was a vicious creature that made its captured prey hatch its eggs.

I hope it's the violent one...

There was no way to know for now.

Eunha could only hope it wasn't the latter.

If it was, it would become troublesome in many ways.

"Noh Eunha. What are we going to do now? Shouldn't we save them?"

While Eunha was lost in thought,

Bae Su-bin called out to him.

When he turned to her, the students were looking at him.

Their eyes were asking if they shouldn't save them.

"...We need to move quietly. We'll rescue the kids when some of those creatures leave."

Noh Eunha gave instructions for the operation.

The students waited for the moment while hiding their bodies.

And not long after,

Several monsters left the room.

When Eunha gave a hand signal, the students left their hiding places, keeping low.

"Always move in pairs of two. Start with the people closest to us."

While the rangers kept watch in all directions,

The students moved in pairs.

How many are there? Looking at it, there seem to be a few more rooms in the back too...

Eunha moved alone with Fire Chicken perched on his head.

Passing by party members tearing the jelly with swords and pulling out students inside,

Eunha moved his feet onto the wall.

I'll have to save the ones up high myself.

Wall walking.

He walks along the vertical wall, taking down monsters that get in the way.

And searches for people located in places the students can't reach.

When he finds them, he has Fire Chicken carry them down to the students below.

Then he─

"─You were here too?"

Curly ivory-colored hair.

Eunha's eyes widened as he discovered Jo Ara.

He immediately cut the transparent membrane.

Liquid splashed down from inside.

Eunha reached out his hand to pull Jo Ara out, ignoring it.

He cradled her in both arms.

"...Ugh..."

"Are you conscious?"

After a moment,

Jo Ara, who had been limp as if dead, furrowed her brow slightly.

She slowly opens her eyes.

"...Noh... Eunha...?"

"Looks like you're conscious. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Why are you here... Huh? Where... where is this?"

She seemed to be regaining consciousness gradually.

She was startled to find herself being held by Eunha while walking on the wall.

Then, as if recalling something─

"─Taeyang!"

"Hm?"

"Th-there should be other party members too. At that time... I clearly remember being captured together..." "Okay. I'll look for them. You seem to have lost strength too, don't try to raise your voice unnecessarily." "Okay..."

"Rest well." "Taeyang should be... somewhere here too. Eunha, please. Please... make sure to save the kids."

"Alright, I got it. So don't cry and just trust me, okay? Do you want some water?"

As if recalling some painful memory,

Jo Ara suddenly burst into tears.

Eunha comforted and soothed her as he came down the wall.

"Sniff!"

"...Hey, you..."

"...Hic... What...?"

"No, keep going..."

Perhaps he comforted and soothed her too much,

She blew her nose on his school uniform.

☆

There are quite a lot of captured students.

Eunha ordered the students skilled in combat to guard the entrance.

To kill the monsters as soon as they enter the entrance.

Meanwhile, Eunha borrowed Ariel's power to completely wipe out the monsters roaming the area.

As expected... Judging from the situation, it seems these guys have no way to exchange information other than meeting face to face.

We haven't been discovered yet thanks to killing them as soon as we see them.

Eunha felt relieved internally.

If the monsters had been ones that exchanged information through pheromones or something, it would have been even harder to rescue the students.

For now, we've saved all the kids who were here.

Eunha looked around.

Students who had been trapped in the jelly were sitting on the floor.

Or lying on the floor still unconscious.

There were also a very few students who could move their bodies.

"Those who can move their bodies, I'd like you to help rescue the kids in the next

"I'd like those who can move their bodies to help rescue the kids in the next room."

Eunha said to the students.

Because they didn't know how many people had been captured by the monsters, they needed their help.

The students who could move their bodies readily accepted his request.

"Eunha, me too..." "You rest there." "But I can move my body..."

"Rest when I tell you to rest."

"...Okay."

Meanwhile, Jo Ara also tried to get up to help him.

Eunha sat her down on the floor.

She looked like she wanted to follow, but his attitude was firm.

"Then let's go to the next room."

Eventually, Eunha left behind students who could guard the room and reorganized the party.

They entered the next room.

The next room was no different from the room they were in just before.

Rooms were tightly packed on the walls, and inside them were jellies glowing crimson.

"Let's begin."

""""Okay.""""

Eunha instructed the students.

Having experienced it once, they now moved on their own without him saying much.

Just then─

"─Noh Eunha?"

"Mok Min-ho? What? You were here?"

From where stone pillars were lined up,

Mok Min-ho suddenly appeared.

And following him, several students poked their heads out from behind him.

Judging by their appearance, it seemed Min-ho had pulled them out of the jelly.

"Looks like you were rescuing the kids alone."

"I thought if I held out here, you would surely appear... But you came faster than I expected. Good to see you." "Good to see me... Are you hurt anywhere?"

Min-ho's stiff face relaxed.

Eunha let out a small laugh.

The two were about to have a conversation to exchange information.

They were about to talk, but─

"─After making others worry so much, you can laugh now, can you!?" "Guhak─!!"

As if something exploded,

Cha Eun-woo, who shot out like an arrow, strongly smacked Mok Min-ho's back.

"Wow..."

The sound was so crisp.

Eunha couldn't help but admire it.