novelraw Chapter 44
Chapter 44
"Good work."
Cheon Yuhwa approached each of them, who were panting for breath, with a satisfied smile, handed them potions, and spoke words of praise and areas for improvement.
"Team Leader 1, you perfectly performed the role of a tanker with your defense ability using your aura and your attack ability using your giant greatsword. However, please distinguish well between the moments you need to block an attack and the moments you need to dodge."
"Heok... I understand..."
"Team Leader 2, you controlled the situation excellently by performing the roles of a long-range dealer and a close-range dealer according to the situation. From now on, please practice imbuing your weapon with aura more diligently. If you practice well, a moment may come when you no longer need arrows."
"Thank you..."
"As for Team Leader 3, that guy will tell you."
At her words, Yeonhwa let out a sigh as if it were very troublesome and then slowly opened his mouth.
"Haa... The speed itself wasn't bad, but there were times when you couldn't control your own speed while being consumed by the sword you were swinging. Train to improve your sense of balance."
"Th... thank you."
Following that, her scoring time ended after giving some advice to Ja Yi-hyeon, who had helped the party members by enchanting various attributes and firing mana arrows, and Ja Yi-yeon, who had been the driving force for the party members to continue attacking by being in charge of the entire party's healing and buffs.
As a bonus, Kim Jae-hyun, as soon as he had caught the Shadow Jaguar, had gone a few steps behind her as always, dusted off his clothes, and with a brazen expression, had naturally slipped out of the evaluation.
"The vice guild master was also incredibly strong."
"I didn't know because I've never seen him fight until now."
Hearing Ja Yi-hyeon and Ja Yi-yeon, who had collapsed on the ground, whispering, she smiled lightly.
It seemed they were finally starting to look like a team.
By the time they were able to get up from the ground thanks to the potions, a system message pierced their ears.
[The dungeon has been cleared.]
[From now on, no new monsters will appear in the dungeon.]
[The dungeon will disappear in 36 hours.]
"Oh, it seems a LV.2 dungeon takes more time to disappear."
Lee Shin muttered, looking at the system message with fascination.
But she, who already knew this fact, nonchalantly swiped the system message aside.
Now that the dungeon had been safely cleared, there was no more business in the boss room.
"Now then, while the five of you rest and recover your stamina, and then receive your rewards and leave..."
She looked at Lee Shin, Yeonhwa, and Kim Jae-hyun, took something out of her inventory, and handed it to them.
"Huh?"
"What's this?"
Lee Shin and Yeonhwa looked at the object she had handed them from various angles with a clueless expression.
Swoosh-
But while the two were flustered, Kim Jae-hyun quietly opened its lid and smeared it all over his body.
Since it was clothes he was going to throw away anyway and they were already dirty, there was no hesitation.
Only then did Lee Shin and Yeonhwa understand why she had given them blood packs.
"Smear it on your body moderately. You have to look like you've been weakened from being seriously injured in a battle with a monster."
At her words, Yeonhwa frowned with all his might, and he, as if it were fun, raised the corners of his mouth and opened the lid of the blood pack.
And the five who were collapsed on the ground looked at the four's eccentric behavior with blank eyes.
***
"Hoo..."
After safely taking the items from the boss room, the nine of them came out of the dungeon using the door that had appeared in the boss room, all with exhausted expressions.
"Hmm? Something seems strange. There are too few people."
"Are you an idiot, brother? The other guild members are probably having a blast getting their revenge on the Dark Jaguars right now, so of course they're not here."
At Ja Yi-yeon's words, Ja Yi-hyeon said with annoyance.
"You idiot, I'm talking about the support team. They should have been prepared in various ways in case we came out."
At his words, Jo Yu-hyeon nodded.
"That's right... The wounded area keeps throbbing, so I'd like to get it treated quickly."
"Me too. By the way, don't you smell something like oil from somewhere?"
As the five team leaders looked around as if they couldn't understand, she, who had been staggering, shouted loudly as if she had been waiting.
"It's an ambush!!!"
Kugugugung--!!!
The moment she shouted loudly, sturdy earthen walls rose around the dungeon, completely surrounding the nine of them.
"Keuk!"
"Damn it! What is this all of a sudden!"
The five, though flustered by the sudden situation, tried to get out of the earthen walls by swinging their weapons, but it was impossible to exert such power with their bodies that had just fought a battle with the Shadow Jaguar.
"Up! Move up!"
But it was a step too late.
"Fireball!"
"Fireball!"
"Fireball!"
Before they could get out of the earthen walls, dozens of fireballs poured down from all directions.
Peong-! Peong-! Pebeobeobeobeong--!!!
Kugugugung--!!!
The attackers stopped their attack only when the fireballs had completely destroyed the earthen walls, and they came out, smiling as they looked at the huge burning ground.
"What? Is this all?"
"I know, right? It ended more anticlimactically than I thought."
"A guy who was one of the [Kings] in Pantheon ends so anticlimactically?"
"Well, just look at the rankers. Not all the guys who were doing well in the game are doing well in reality. In the first place, is a game with no pain the same as reality?"
"Right, have these guys ever danced with knives in the back alleys like us?"
They looked at the brilliantly burning flames and laughed loudly among themselves.
"Sigh, but it's a little disappointing. We could have made a good chunk of money just by taking the items those guys had."
"Disappointing?"
At that moment, a bullet of white light pierced through the fierce flames and shot out, piercing the arms and legs of the attackers who had been laughing just a moment ago.
"Kuaaaaak--!!!"
"There's a hole in my arm-!"
"It hurts--!!!"
The attackers, who had been hit by a sudden surprise attack at a moment they had not expected at all, couldn't even come to their senses and just screamed loudly.
At that sound, the other attackers who were far away from the place where the flames were burning were surprised and looked at the place where the huge flames were burning.
Hwoooong-!
"Ah, if it was going to start right away like this, why did I even put blood on my face and clothes."
"Annoying."
At that moment, the huge flames were cut, and three people with not even a single scorch mark walked out, frowning.
"Damn it! You knew about our ambush!"
"Well, you were staring so obviously, how could I not know."
"I'm going to save the support team with Jae-hyun and then join you. You guys take care of them first."
"I was wondering why you weren't coming out of the flames, so you were looking for the guild members."
Pajijik-
Saying so, Lee Shin unfolded the Lightning Flash Step and rushed toward the place where the Chaotic Players were gathered, and Yeonhwa also rushed toward the attackers to vent his anger for having his face smeared with blood.
She ran with Kim Jae-hyun to where the support team was and checked the team leaders' faces.
In the team leaders' eyes, there was a slight hesitation about having to deal with people, but perhaps because of the fact that their own lives had been threatened, their eyes looking at the Chaotic Players were coldly calm.
-If you can't attack, you can move to subdue them. But, don't try to subdue them forcibly. Be prepared to deal with people.
Leaving those words to the team leaders, she quickly ran out in front of them.
Sreureung-
And the team leaders took out their respective weapons and steeled their resolve as she had said.
They moved cautiously, prepared to use their strength against people and possibly kill them.
And they looked at the appearance of the three people in front of them.
"Haa, ever since I got involved with that guy, too many troublesome things have been happening."
Yeonhwa swung his sword, which was the same color as his light purple hair, and cut the tendons in the attackers' hands and feet.
"Hmm, it's my first time fighting with people, but this also seems to have a different kind of taste."
Lee Shin, while letting out golden lightning, focused his attacks only on the places where the attackers would writhe in pain and played with them like toys.
"It's the first time I've dealt with people since I came back."
Cheon Yuhwa, with her white hair that seemed particularly dull today, fluttered and shot light bullets here and there.
The appearance of the three was so overwhelming that it couldn't be fully described even with the word 'overwhelming'.
***
"Hmm~ Is this all that's left?"
The situation was cleared up so quickly it was anticlimactic.
The ambushing Chaotic Players were subdued by Lee Shin and Yeonhwa, and the trapped support team was safely rescued by her and Kim Jae-hyun.
And now, Lee Shin was walking through the forest, looking for any remaining remnants of the attackers.
Although he had said he would finish them off as quickly as possible, he hadn't finished them off so quickly as to catch the guys who had given up the fight from the beginning and chosen to run away.
He walked through the forest, spinning the dagger he had taken from a Chaotic Player whose limbs he had broken on his hand like a pen.
For reference, he wasn't the only one doing this.
The team leaders were protecting the people of the support team, and he, Yeonhwa, Kim Jae-hyun, and Cheon Yuhwa had each scattered in four directions to catch the guys they had missed.
'Well, it seems they've all been caught by now.'
Lee Shin spread his senses and confirmed the situation happening around him, humming a tune.
Cheon Yuhwa, Yeonhwa, and Kim Jae-hyun had all captured the remnants of the attackers in the places they had gone to and had returned to their camp.
Lee Shin lightly kicked the five who were lying on the ground, unconscious, and then stood up and muttered loudly.
"Hmm, it seems there are no more guys left, so shall we go back now?"
He dragged them, who were tied up in a rope, and moved his steps in the direction of the camp.
And in the bushes, a young man who looked to be about a high school student focused all his attention on the sound of him dragging the five and walking.
Thump- Thump-
He didn't even breathe so as not to make any sound, but no matter what he did, he couldn't make his own heartbeat smaller.
The boy held his breath and, while crouching, just prayed for him to disappear far away.
Jiiik-
Jiiik-
Jiik-
Hearing his footsteps gradually fade, the boy held his breath, and soon, his footsteps completely disappeared from the boy's ears.
Nevertheless, the boy continued to crouch in that spot.
Calmly, calmly.
Thinking of the 'just in case' of a 'just in case', he waited and waited.
After counting to 100 in his head and waiting, the boy opened his eyes and cautiously crawled out of his hiding place.
"Peek-a-boo."
And in front of the boy, Lee Shin was staring at him with a playful, smiling face.
"Wow, I thought you'd come out and run away as soon as I stopped making a sound, but you didn't come out. Did you play hide-and-seek a lot when you were young?"
It was the smile of a cat looking at a cute, small mouse.
(End of Chapter)