SWNOVELXO Chapter 10
Episode.10 Betrayal?
The eyes began to adapt to the darkness, and I started to see a little bit ahead.
However, I still couldn’t see far.
By the way, after spending three hours in the dungeon with Harin, my subjective thought is that…
When I touched the dungeon walls, they felt like the cold stone had some moisture.
If that’s the case, then this place is…
‘… a cave?’
Another cave following the previous snowy mountain…
I felt a sense of déjà vu.
The intense fight from that day began to resurface in my mind.
“Harin.”
“Yes. Why did you call?”
Harin seemed strangely calm.
Although it was dark and I couldn’t see well, for some reason, her face looked a little flushed.
‘Is it just my feeling…?’
Indeed, an active S-rank is different in some way.
‘Is it because she’s experienced being isolated in dungeons before…?’
“No… it’s nothing.”
“But isn’t dating in a dungeon nice… but shouldn’t we start hunting the boss soon?”
“Hmm… The gate has already closed. Can we leave by defeating the boss?”
The black gate transformed into the boss, but…
The blue gate does not work like that.
If we defeated the boss of the blue gate, we have to find our way back to the original gate.
But normally, without the gate disappearing, we should have been ejected back into the real world.
But, here we are, isolated in the dungeon without the gate; will defeating the boss make the gate reappear?
‘… With my instincts as a D-rank hunter, I don’t think so at all…’
“Yeah? What did you say?… The gate… is closing?”
“Yeah… The gate disappeared a few minutes ago. It seems like it has been about three hours since we entered this dungeon; was the gate really that tight on time?”
‘But thinking about it, did they leave a gate that was about to close in the hands of a newbie like me?’
What kind of work does the gate management team do?
With such poor handling skills, they probably couldn’t protect Eunbyul’s family either.
“The gate closing… you’re joking, right?”
“I wish it were a joke, but unfortunately, it’s not.”
“This is the first time anything like this has happened… Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Well… it closed only a few minutes ago? I think I told you quickly enough… Plus, I thought you already knew.”
“I can’t see!”
Harin yelled at me.
‘But… is it that she can’t see, or does she just not have eyes…?’
If I said something like that, I might end up receiving a glorious punch from the only S-rank healer, so I think I need to keep that thought to myself until I die.
“Uh… But Harin, didn’t you say you had good instincts? There was that popping sound when the gate vanished.”
“… That, um… Haah…”
Harin took a deep breath.
“I was so filled with thoughts of dating you that I couldn’t pay attention…”
“This isn’t… a date; we came here to work!”
Harin wrapped her arms around her face in embarrassment and twisted her body.
“But, Harin, what department are you in?”
If Harin is from the association, she must have work to do, and with time being stolen like this, I felt guilty for bringing her along.
“Oh, I don’t have a specific department.”
“Then…”
“I… um… I’m not sure how to explain it.”
After thinking for a while, she started speaking again.
“I don’t have a fixed department; I typically work as a doctor and go help raid parties in need… It’s kind of like a mercenary feel? Or a traveling medical service?”
“Doctor?… No…”
As the only S-rank healer, her placement seems quite ambiguous.
Does the association have a thought process for using her like that?
“Is it true that I’ve never fought beside a high-ranking healer, but… is it true that high-ranked healers have almost no combat ability?”
“Yes.”
“But you know how to use buffs, right?”
“You’re asking obvious questions.”
“Ah… I-I’m sorry… I thought an S-rank healer would obviously know how…”
“I can’t.”
“.. What?”
“Are you… stupid? Buffs are handled by the buffer position.”
“But usually, buffers heal and cast buffs too, right?”
“No. Buffers only apply buffs. Conversely, healers can’t use buffs; they can only heal.”
“I see…”
“……. Well, there are exceptions…”
“Huh? What did you say? I couldn’t hear.”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
So, the reliable S-rank next to me is… a healer with zero combat ability…
Still, I can trust her healing ability.
“Um… to get out of here, we need to search this area again.”
“But… how? We’ve already been wandering for three hours.”
“Now it will be different… This time, I’ll find the way. After all, I’m more accustomed to the darkness than you.”
“Harin…”
“I’ve walked in dark worlds all my life. I guess I should be thankful that I can’t see right now.”
I nodded silently and then hesitated.
“Okay… I understand.”
I thought it wouldn’t be good for Harin, who couldn’t see, to act this way.
– Thud!
“Ah…”
“Okay. Let’s get going now!”
Harin took my hand and led me.
The connection of our hands became the warmest spot in this space.
**********
– Splash – Splash
We seemed to have entered deep into the dungeon, presumed to be a cave.
It appeared that we were gradually going uphill.
Our hands… hadn’t let go yet.
When I tried to let go, Harin gripped my hand even tighter.
She held on so tightly that I also had to grip her hand hard to endure the pain.
‘By the way, is it just my feeling, or does it seem like the deeper we go, the more water there is?’
This place is different from where we had wandered for three hours.
Thinking that we had been digging for nothing made my body weaken.
Harin, who was leading and holding my hand tightly, suddenly stopped and called out to me.
“You… look ahead.”
“Hmm… it’s still too dark to see.”
“Oh… I misspoke. Look at the floor.”
“The floor?”
I looked down at the ground as per Harin’s instruction.
… So the fishy metallic smell I had been sensing from before came from this…
I thought that as I entered, the water increased, but it wasn’t water.
The liquid flowing on the ground was not water.
“You… this smell… it’s… blood?”
“Right… I confirmed it with my own eyes, but this red liquid and this nauseating smell… it must be blood… but… why?”
As we went deeper, the smell of blood intensified.
I sensed an upcoming battle and began to search for my sword on my back.
However, no matter how much I tried to swing my hand, the sword didn’t come into my grasp.
I kept searching my back, but my sword was frustratingly out of reach.
Then, a sharp sensation brushed against my head.
‘My sword… It broke that day, and I decided to get a new one… What an idiot to go into a dungeon without any weapon…’
I made the same mistake a real soldier would make by going to the battlefield without a gun.
Could it be that I trusted the S-rank beside me too much…?
‘What if an enemy appears…?’
As I pondered in serious thought, Harin began to explain why blood was spilling across the floor.
“I think… the only place that could produce this amount of blood is the boss’s body. If we’re going to fight the dungeon boss, now is the time.”
Harin whispered in a small voice, probably to avoid awakening the seemingly dying boss.
“Uh… but…”
I almost mentioned that I didn’t bring my weapon.
‘I guess I’ll manage somehow…’
In this situation, I was thankful for the fact that Harin couldn’t see.
… She has really been a great help multiple times.
We delved deeper into the dungeon.
Then, there lay the boss, collapsed in the corner… a giant snake was bleeding heavily.
It seemed to barely cling to life as I could see it still breathing.
Nearby, there were other snakes with their bodies bitten into pieces.
Did these creatures have an internal conflict?
I noticed a sharp stone beneath my feet.
I picked it up and quickly dashed toward the giant snake, striking the head hard with a couple of swift blows.
The creature fell without much resistance, and I was able to claim my reward for defeating that monster.
– Ding!
[You have defeated the Snake Leader (Lv.22).]
[Your level has increased from 17 to 20 by defeating the Snake Leader.]
[Your Basic Swordsmanship has leveled up from Lv.3 to Lv.4.]
[Your Triple Attack has leveled up from Lv.3 to Lv.4.]
[King’s Insight has leveled up from Lv.1 to Lv.2.]
.. I am not receiving additional rewards unless I defeat something with a level gap exceeding ten?
I placed my hand on the snake’s corpse and used an additional skill.
‘Activating Inheritance of Ability.’
– Ding!
[You are inheriting abilities from the monster’s corpse.]
[Possible abilities to inherit]
1. Snake Posture
2. Soul Protection
3. Poison Application
4. Shedding
I chose the second option.
It seemed like the most useful.
‘Choosing option 2, Soul Protection.’
[You have acquired Soul Protection (S).]
Today, I made another good choice… or rather, the best-looking option was too noticeable.
“Hah. Hah. Are you okay?”
“Ah… it wasn’t that much trouble.”
Despite being out of breath, Harin rushed over to worry about me first.
I should open the system to check the abilities I acquired.
‘SYSTEM.’
– Ding!
‘My Information.’
[Checking your information.]
[Information]
Name: Han Shiwoo (21)
Level: 20
Position: Dealer
Stats Remaining: 3
– Current Stats –
Strength: 6
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 2
Luck: 6
– Acquired Skills –
Dampening-Nerf (EX) LV.1 (Max)
[Reduces the abilities of the target by two stages after physical contact with a being of the same race using a command.]
P. Blessing of the System (EX) LV.1 (Max)
[Helps the holder, Han Shiwoo, to grow. Upon growing, various rewards can be obtained.]
Inheritance of Ability (S) LV.1 (Max)
[You can inherit abilities from the corpse of a lifeform you’ve defeated. (One selection possible.)]
King’s Insight (S) LV.2
[Gain more information. (The amount of information gained increases as the level rises.)]
Soul Protection (S) LV.1
[Nullifies the effects of abilities that cause mental damage. (Cooldown 24 hours./<u>Only blocks harmful effects</u>.)]
Invisibility (A) LV.1
[Makes the body invisible in non-combat situations. Duration is proportional to intelligence stats. (Intelligence Stat x 5 minutes)]
P. Basic Swordsmanship (D) LV.4
[Can handle a sword more sharply.]
Triple Attack (D) LV.4
[Attacks quickly three times.]
P. Blessing of the Drug Addict (D) LV.2
[Increases the duration of beneficial effects from drugs by 10 times.]
==========
“You… let me heal you…”
Harin placed her hands on my body to heal me while I was checking the system.
“Ah… I’m not injured, but thank you…”
– Ding!
[Due to the effect of the skill, Soul Protection (S), the harmful mental damage has been nullified.]
What?
Didn’t she just say she was going to heal me?
‘What the hell is going on?’